Elliott Hendren never, in his wildest baseball-diamond dreams, would have think-thank-thunk he’d be the one leaving Nucla slugger Jarret Sinks – let alone the No. 6 1A Mustangs — well, sink-sank-sunk.
And that’s according to Hendren, whose backward-twisting, seventh-inning stab of a NHS slugger’s apparent go-ahead fly Tuesday not only killed the visitors’ desperate last-gasp rally, but also secured 2A Ignacio a doubleheader sweep. It also gave Ignacio a 2-1 season mark versus the Mustangs – clinching IHS the 2A/1A San Juan Basin League championship outright.
“I was just standing out there telling myself, ‘Don’t hit the ball to me, don’t hit the ball to me!’ And then when he did, I was like, ‘Alright, who’s he going to burn? Me or D (Devante Montoya, center fielder)?’” said the smiling right fielder after emerging from beneath his teammates’ celebratory dogpile.
“I looked at it, said ‘Might as well kick it into third gear and go for it,’” he continued. “Then I forgot to take the wind into effect – I almost lost it, and that scared me so much! That relief after I noticed the ball was in my glove was the best feeling.”
“Going into that last inning we were up five. And Phillip (Quintana) gave up a few hits, so I went to Jacob (Gallegos) … but his arm wasn’t feeling too good. Then they got bases loaded, and my heart started pounding, like, ‘Oh gosh, it’s 10-9 – here we go!’” IHS head coach Duke Baker said.
“Jake got a strikeout, then … Sinks – a great kid who’d hit a home run in the first game, an absolute moon shot – got on Jake’s fastball. Hit the gap toward right-center and Elliott came out of nowhere, dove and made the catch of the year for us! Flew back all the way, body extended! The whole team ran out there, congratulated him – it was amazing!”
“It feels awesome,” first baseman Rylan Maez said. “We’ve come a long way from struggling at first; we’re way better now.”
“Like I told them before the game, the sky’s the limit for these boys,” continued Baker. “They just have to believe in themselves and in their team, and they did it.”
In Game 1, Eppie Quintana and Maez hit first-frame RBI singles. Three second-inning runs – all coming via catcher Sinks’ uncharacteristic throwing error on an attempted pickoff of Phillip Quintana at first with Gallegos at third and Eppie Quintana at second – helped Ignacio build a fast 7-1 lead. And though Nucla hurlers Carson Gardner (L; 3.1 IP, 7 R, 5 BB, HB, 5 K) and Josh Flint (2.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 4 K) settled things down to keep the guests in contention, the Bobcats’ defense behind Eppie Quintana locked down, save for a shaky sixth inning in which Gardner and Gage Owen both singled and scored via errors.
But with the bases juiced – Joseph Casillas at third, Hemmy O’Brien at second and Sinks, via an intentional walk, at first – and two away, Quintana got Steele Arnold to bounce to third baseman Wade Dunbar-Burger, who tagged out O’Brien to end the threat.
With their lead cut to 8-5, the ’Cats managed to bring in one run in the bottom of the sixth. Phillip Quintana smacked a leadoff double off Flint and scored on a wild pitch with two outs.
Eppie Quintana (W, CG; 7 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 2 ER, BB, 2 HB, 6 K) then secured the win, fanning Casillas to leave Owen at third in the seventh.
Sinks hit a solo blast to deep center and ended up 1-for-3 with two runs and an RBI in Game 1. Gardner and Owen each went 2-4 with a run, and Gardner an RBI. Shortstop Arnold, who made a spectacular diving grab of Marcus Maez’s fifth-inning blooper into left-center, ended up 1-3 with a sacrifice fly and an RBI-ground-rule double.
For IHS, Phillip Quintana went 1-1 with three walks and three runs. Eppie Quintana was 1-3 with a sac-fly, two runs and one batted in. Rylan Maez was 1-4 with an RBI. Gallegos reached base four times, once via hit-by-pitch, and scored twice while plating one.
In Ignacio’s Game 2 win, Rylan Maez raked a double and a triple, ending up 2-3 with two RBIs.
“Rylan, you know, the last couple games he was struggling, and we had coach Isiah Valdez working with him in the cage pretty much all day, working the kinks out,” Baker said. “And he came out stroking in the second game; he was our hot bat.”
“I feel like everyone’s (bat) is coming around, finally,” Maez said. “Especially mine. But we have to keep going.”
Leadoff man Montoya went 3-3 with a walk, an RBI, three stolen bases and three runs. Eppie Quintana went 1-3 with a double, walk, run and three batted in. Gallegos was 1-3 with a double, walk and two runs scored. Phillip Quintana was 1-4 with a double, a run and an RBI. Dylan McCaw was 2-3 with a run.
Provided a 3-2 lead after one full inning, which grew to 5-2 through two, Phillip Quintana kept NHS in check all the way into the fifth, by which time Ignacio led 8-2. The Mustangs managed to get one run back. IHS responded with two in the home half of the fifth, but Nucla pieced together two more in the top of the sixth – bringing themselves at the time back to 10-5.
“It was a great deal for him,” Baker said, of the younger Quintana (6.1 IP, 12 H, 9 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) who earned the Game 2 win on his birthday and bagged the league title in the process. “Pitched a great game, was on base.”
“Our pitching is on point,” emphasized Baker. “Eppie and Phillip, that’s my horses, and then I’ve got Jake – who was unreal in the field, again, played a great defensive ballgame. We’ve come together as a team; the chemistry’s just getting unreal out there.”
Ignacio improved to 8-7 overall and 4-2 in the SJBL. Nucla dropped to 11-6, 3-3.
The Bobcats will next travel to 2A Southern Peaks Leaguers Sargent (2-9 overall) for a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday. IHS will then host 2A Center (1-15) on May 14 for another SJBL-SPL pair.
Ignacio will close out its regular season May 17 when 3A Centauri (10-9) comes to town for two.
“I’m expecting six wins out of my boys,” Baker said. “Expectations are that high; they know what the job is, and the job ain’t done! I told them, ‘Don’t let your foot off the gas; we’ve still got a long ways to go.’”
NHS will return to IHS Field to begin the 1A-District 1 tournament against San Luis Centennial at 10 a.m. Friday. Dove Creek (9-8, 2-4) will then face Sanford about noon.
