In attendance for much of Tuesday’s doubleheader at IHS Field, veteran Bayfield head coach – and former Ignacio skipper – Bert Miller would know all too well the pins and needles upon which first-year Ignacio boss Duke Baker found himself sitting, leading a red-hot baseball club eager to know its postseason destination.
“The waiting’s killing me,” Baker said Wednesday morning via text message. “And our boys are just playing amazing ball. Top-notch. They’ve given me that 110% every game; I couldn’t ask for anything more as a coach.”
Fortunately, the wait was short. That afternoon, IHS learned that despite a league title, it would be on the road for the CHSAA Class 2A State Tournament’s opening regional round. Awarded the No. 9 seed, Ignacio will travel to No. 8 Wiggins and face No. 24 Evergreen Clear Creek on Saturday.
First pitch at WHS’ AP Memorial Ballpark is set for 9 a.m., with the hungry Bobcats hunting a 10th consecutive win.
The Region 8 hosting Tigers will play No. 25 Westcliffe Custer County at 11:30 a.m., with the winners dueling at 2 p.m.
“It’s kind of hard to explain,” second baseman Marcus Maez said of IHS’ hot streak. “We’ve all just came (together) as a team, we’ve all helped each other … and now we’re family.”
“From the beginning of the season to now, I can just see how much I’ve grown and how much my team’s grown,” outfielder Elliott Hendren had said previously. “Even when we make mistakes, we’re just trying to bring one another up — that’s the one main thing we’ve just been working on — and it helps with every play.”
And after overcoming a fifth-inning scare in Game 1 against 2A Centauri on Tuesday to eke out an 8-6 victory, the 2A/1A San Juan Basin champion ’Cats (14-7 overall, 4-2 SJBL) made virtually every play in Game 2 to wrap up regular-season work with a 10-1 rout.
Moved from catcher to pitcher in Game 2, sophomore Phillip Quintana labored early but went the distance in dealing a two-hitter. Walking four Falcons and tagging two, Quintana (W, 7 IP) balanced his ledger with six strikeouts, stranded four Falcons in scoring position, and ultimately got leadoff man Jaren Crowther to end the day grounding out to shortstop Jacob Gallegos.
In the top of the first, Ignacio spotted the descending Falcons (11-12, 2-6 IML) a run. Zach Buhr beat out an infield single Maez’s way, took second on a Phillip Quintana wild pitch to Shawcroft, advanced to third on a passed ball catcher Eppie Quintana couldn’t squeeze, then sprinted home on another wild offering.
Ignacio rapidly responded.
Devante Montoya led off with a double against Estevan Vega, then hurried home when Centauri shortstop Shawcroft couldn’t reach a Jacob Gallegos grounder. Gallegos then took second on a passed ball and promptly scored when Eppie Quintana (3-3, BB, 3 R, RBI) tripled to right. Phillip Quintana then singled home his sibling, putting IHS up 3-1 after an inning.
After the younger Quintana got out of a bases-loaded jam by getting Crowther to pop up to Montoya at third, the Bobcats again pounced. Eli Arthur, Montoya and Gallegos all scored in the bottom of the second. Ignacio got another run in the fourth when Phillip Quintana doubled to right off Vega, plating Eppie Quintana from first. Ignacio then all but sealed the deal with three more runs in the fifth.
The fifth inning runs all came with two outs, starting when Gallegos reached via a Shawcroft error and then scored — along with Eppie Quintana — via a Phillip Quintana single to left, knocking Vega (L; 4.2 IP, 12 H, 10 R, 9 ER, BB, 3 HB, 5 K) off the hill.
“It takes a while for (Quintana) to get going on the mound, and he was struggling. I went and had a talk with him, and told him, you know, it’s not on him,” said Baker. “And he settled down great.”
Phillip Quintana ended the game going 3-for-4 with a run and four RBIs. Catalyst Montoya, again playing third base rather than center field, in place of the unavailable Wade Dunbar-Burger, went 2-5 with a double and two runs. Dylan McCaw was 1-4 with an RBI, while Gallegos ended up 2-4 with three runs scored and three RBIs.
Having entered the game in the visitors’ fifth as a pinch-hitter, Diego Hernandez went 1-2 while Buhr ended up 1-3.
Eppie Quintana started and finished Game 1, earning a complete-game win despite CHS leading 6-3 going into the bottom of the fifth. But after Ignacio rallied for four runs, then added an insurance scratch in the sixth, Quintana closed the show by retiring the last seven Falcons he faced. He ended the game striking out opposing starter Shawcroft.
Gallegos crushed a towering homer, was hit by a pitch and went 3-3 with three runs. Eppie Quintana was 3-3 with a double, triple, walk and two runs. Montoya was 2-4 with a triple and two runs. First baseman Rylan Maez 1-4 with a triple.
“Their curveballs were pretty good, but it was mostly just fastballs. Nice ones right down the pipe,” said Marcus Maez. “We picked ourselves up, got the bats cracking; everybody was doing good.”
“Centauri … came out and played hard that first game – that Shawcroft kid can throw the ball!” Baker said. “But the boys are stepping up! Rising to the occasion, you know? And like I told them, it’s one game at a time now.”
Now, the Bobcats will look to stay hot in regional play when they take on Clear Creek (11-9, 5-3 2A/1A Mile High League).
