Rams are upset down the hill

RIO RANCHO — Rio Rancho High School senior Adan Bustos didn’t pitch like he was sick on April 22, Senior Day for the Rams baseball team.

He pitched the final five innings, scattering three hits and striking out five — and twice got out of jams when the visiting Volcano Vista Hawks had a runner at third base.

The Rams’ shutout over the Hawks, combined with Cleveland’s loss that same afternoon, put Rio Rancho back atop the District 1-5A standings.

That changed three days later: The Storm beat visiting Piedra Vista, and the Rams lost an extra-inning affair at Cibola.

Rams 3, Volcano Vista 0Shortstop Wyatt Tinker led the Rams with two hits and scored the only run needed to win the contest on a sunny but breezy Tuesday afternoon.

It was a pitchers’ duel for the first three innings, with the Rams hitless until Tinker led off the fourth with a single up the middle. Designated hitter Adrian Varoz sent him home with a triple to right, but Varoz was left at third when Ryan Barreras grounded out and Matt Cook and Anthony Knoll fanned vs. Hawks lefty Aaron Sanchez.

The Rams closed out the scoring in the fifth with two down. The Hawks looked sure to score in the sixth after a one-out double had a man in scoring position, and one out later, Barreras dove to his left to snag a shot headed down the line that would have been an easy extra-base hit.

Noah Serna singled and Chase Rivera walked. Tinker’s second single of the game plated Serna, and when Hawks catcher Noah Massey tried a pickoff throw to first to snag Tinker, the toss went into right field and Rivera easily scored. Tinker was left at third as Varoz looked at a third strike.

After Brandon Segal pitched the first two innings, Bustos headed to the mound.

“It was supposed to be my start today, but I was sick, so they started him so I could get some rest,” Bustos explained of his longest outing on the mound this season. “I got a curveball I could control; slider, too.”

Rams coach David Gomez was pleased, especially with the way his team kept it close against Hawks southpaw Aaron Sanchez, who struck out six in five innings of work.

“I heard a lot about him. There wasn’t a lot of video on him,” Gomez said. “But, (from) what we heard, he was solid and he threw like that today. … I was just hard for us to get on him.”

Naturally, Gomez was happy with Bustos.

“What we’ve been doing with him, he’s been starting a lot of these district games and getting them three innings deep,” he said. “Today, he was throwing it. We used Segal as an opener, just to get things rolling.”

Segal was expected to start the April 18 game at Farmington, which was postponed to May 3 because of inclement weather.

“The wind’s blowing in, so that helped us,” Gomez said.

Cibola 7, Rams 5 (8 innings)This wasn’t supposed to happen.

Although the Cougars have shown improvement in recent seasons, they hadn’t beaten the Rams since April 24, 2018.

This time, the Rams had a 5-1 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh, when the Cougars scored four times, with catcher Isaac Brito in the middle of it.

Jacob Escobedo and Brito singled, and Richie Reiffenberger came in to relieve starting pitcher Segal. The freshman got back-to-back infield pop-outs to leave the Coogs with one out. A couple of walks and two wild pitches gave the Cougars life, and they had runners on the corners — another wild pitch away from a win — when Reiffenberger got the final out on a strikeout.

The Rams (17-6, 5-2) went down in order in the eighth.

Brito, who started the Cougars’ scoring with a second-inning solo homer, ended it with a two-run shot in the eighth, following Escobedo’s single to open the bottom of the frame.

Rivera and Varoz each had two hits for the Rams, who out-hit Cibola 9-8. Serna had one hit and three RBIs out of the ninth spot in the lineup.

Extra inningsRegardless of the outcome of the Rams’ game at Piedra Vista on Tuesday, April 29, the outcomes of Friday’s game vs. Cleveland and Saturday’s makeup game in Farmington will determine their final standing in 1-5A.

… Look for the first round of the state tournament for the Rams to start with a best two-out-of-three series at RRHS on Friday, May 9. Games 2 and 3 (if needed), will be played Saturday, May 10.