Tearing into their 3A Intermountain League schedule, the Bayfield High School baseball team traveled out to La Jara on Saturday and returned with two wins in as many tries as they crushed Centauri 8-4 and 26-1.
The Falcons actually held a 3-2 edge through three innings of Game 1, but Bayfield broke free with five runs in the top of the fourth and coasted, relatively speaking to victory. Senior Tavian Box went 1-for-3 with a walk, double and three RBI to pace the Wolverines offensively, while senior Caleb Beck also bashed a double in going 2-4 with one run and one batted in.
Senior Estevan Gonzales went just 1-for-1, but doubled, scored once and also drew three walks off CHS’ pitching. Freshman Hudson Tischer ended up 0-1 with a run and two walks, and freshman Aiden Tipton went 1-2 with a walk, was hit by a pitch, and scored twice.
Senior Tristan Bennett started the game on the mound and earned the win by dealing three innings, giving up five hits and three runs, while walking two Falcons and striking out four. Junior Jett Rey also worked three effective innings and fanned seven, and junior Cameron Queen worked one inning.
BHS put Game 2 away early, scoring seven runs in the first and another seven in the second while Centauri managed just one run in reply. After the Wolverines added one in the top of the third, they put a vicious exclamation point on the doubleheader by racking up 11 runs in the fourth inning, with the Falcons (6-3 overall, 0-2 IML) then failing to answer.
Senior Daemon Christner ended up 4-for-4 with two doubles, three runs and five RBI in the blowout. Junior Josiah Mayfield, meanwhile, belted a grand-slam homer and ended up 1-2 with two walks, a sacrifice fly, four runs scored and five batted in. Box was 3-3 with a homer, two walks, four runs and as many RBI.
In addition to his bases-clearing blast, Mayfield ended up earning a 56-pitch complete-game win on the mound, gave up only two hits, walked just one Falcon and fanned seven.
The Wolverines (6-8 overall, 2-0 IML) will next travel to Alamosa (9-7, 2-0) on Friday for a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. Bayfield will then host 4A Durango on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
BOBCATS SWEEP BULLDOGS: Bouncing back well from a weather- and mistake-marred, hard-luck, extra-inning 11-10 loss at Dolores on Saturday Ignacio returned to host Dove Creek on Monday and continued 2A/1A San Juan Basin action and beat the Bulldogs 13-1 and 6-5.
The victories gave the Bobcats (6-3 overall, 4-1 SJBL) a three-game season sweep of DCHS (3-9, 1-4).
IHS broke the lopsided game open with six second-inning runs and added four more in the bottom of the third before the contest ended after Dove Creek went scoreless in the top of the fifth. Senior Gabe Archuleta went 1-for-3 with a walk, two runs and four RBI, senior Sonny Flores was 2-3 with a run and three RBI, and freshman Zackariah Loudenburg was 2-2 with two doubles, one hit-by-pitch, three runs and one batted in.
In the one-run affair, however, the ’Dogs led 4-0 through two frames before the ’Cats clawed out five runs in the third. DCHS tied it up with one run in the top of the sixth, but IHS answered with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh.
Flores went 1-for-4 with three RBI in the close call, and Archuleta was 1-3 with a double, one hit-by-pitch and two runs. Evan Maez was 1-3 with one run and two batted in, and Max Mendoza finished the day a combined 4-for-7 with three runs.
Ignacio will next host Dolores on Friday for a doubleheader beginning at noon
