It seemed, really, almost inevitable Tuesday afternoon that Nucla would break through:
One Mustang reached base in the first inning. Two did so in the second, then three in the third.
Each time, however, Ignacio starting pitcher Stephen Romero found a way out – by picking off NHS’ Daniel Zunich at first base in the first inning, then fanning both Ryker Collins and Collin Johnson to sew up the second, and getting Jonah Richardson to fly out with bases loaded in the third. Romero and the Bobcats finished the game on an 8-0 run for an 11-3 victory.
The guests first got on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth as four Mustangs reached base and three – two (Collins, Johnson) via leadoff man Cole Bray’s RBI-single, and a third (Jackson McCabe) via two Bobcat throwing errors on the same play – managed to touch home plate, tying the 2A/1A San Juan Basin League game at 3-3.
But after the freshman Romero got IHS out of the jam by getting Jace Bonacquista to fly to center and Zunich to pop up to shortstop, the ’Cats regained the upper hand in the inning’s home half. For keeps, as it turned out.
Romero, fittingly, led off reaching base via an error by Nucla shortstop Zunich, stole second with Zackariah Loudenburg at bat, then took third via a passed ball charged to NHS catcher Johnson. Loudenburg then bounced out to pitcher McCabe, but after Max Mendoza drew a walk, Romero scored via a perfectly-executed double steal when Mendoza nabbed second.
Mendoza then reached third base via another passed ball, and batter Evan Maez singled him in. McCabe (L; 4+ IP, 5 H, 8 R, 6 ER, 5 BB) would survive the inning, but Ignacio had the necessary momentum to then chase him off the mound in the bottom of the fifth. Sonny Flores led off with a walk, Joseph Atencio followed with a single to center, and Romero then walked to pack the sacks.
NHS head coach Randy Gabriel, sensing the practically-imminent, brought Bonacquista in from second base to pitch, but Loudenburg greeted him with an opposite-field single to right, reloading the bases after Flores (0-3, FC) had scored via a double steal with Atencio (1-4).
Atencio then scored via a wild pitch to Mendoza (1-1, 2B), who soon walked. Maez struck out, but leadoff man Gabe Archuleta smacked a sacrifice fly, plating Romero (0-2), to center. William Mendoza-Lechuga then singled in both Loudenburg and Mendoza, promptly stole second, and then came around via Stoney White Thunder-Lucero’s single to right.
Pitching his second inning in relief of fellow lefty Romero, White Thunder-Lucero – who’d been nearly untouchable in the Bobcats’ 13-0, 26-6 home sweep of non-league 2A Center four days earlier – then gave up a ground-rule double to Johnson starting off the sixth, but retired the next five Mustangs he faced.
“I don’t know if they’d seen a lot of lefty pitchers but I think it threw them off a little bit,” said Mendoza-Lechuga (2-4, 3B, 2 R, 3 RBI). “We were pretty confident at the beginning; once they switched pitchers we started putting bat to ball and … just played our game.”
White Thunder-Lucero ended up 2-for-3 with a first-inning double, third-inning sac-fly, one run and two batted in.
“A lot carried over into today,” Archuleta (0-2, R, RBI) said, referring to IHS’ wins over the still-winless Vikings. “We felt like if we hit like that we weren’t going to lose another game. So we’ve just got to clean up some little errors and we’ll be fine.”
Johnson and first baseman Jacob Davis each ended up 2-3 in defeat, while Richardson went 2-4 and Bray 1-3 as he and Davis were each hit by a pitch.
2A Ignacio (4-2, 2-0) will travel Saturday to 2A Dolores (2-6, 2-1) for a game at noon.
HAWKS ROCK WOLVERINES: After a hyper-busy March, Bayfield saw its first April action on Tuesday, but did not fare well away.
Meeting 4A Montrose at MHS, the Wolverines slipped to 4-8 overall after falling 10-0 and 23-5 to the Red Hawks.
The tone was set early, as Montrose (7-7, 1-1 4A/5A Southwestern) scored five runs in the bottom of the very first inning and held BHS to just six hits in the shortened five-inning opener. Freshman Hudson Tischer went 2-for-2, senior Keegan Johnston was 1-1 with a double, junior Cameron Queen was 1-1 with a walk, and junior Josiah Mayfield went 1-1 and was hit by a pitch.
In Game 2, halted after Bayfield went scoreless in the top of the fourth, the Wolverines again gave up five first-inning runs but finished the frame trailing by just two. The Red Hawks, however, tore the game open with 12 runs in the second and added six more in the third.
Mayfield homered and ended up 3-for-3 with two runs and two RBI. Tischer (R) and senior Estevan Gonzalez (2 R, RBI) each went 2-3.
The Wolverines will next begin 3A Intermountain play on Saturday at Centauri (6-1, 0-0 IML). First pitch in La Jara is scheduled for 11 a.m.
