District 1-5A baseball gets interesting

RIO RANCHO — Visiting Rio Rancho would have had sole possession of first place at the midpoint of the District 1-5A season on Tuesday, April 15, with a victory at Cleveland.

It was not to be: The Rams had the tying run at third base with two down in the seventh, only to have winning pitcher Gabe Nelson, in relief, strike out Matt Cook.

With the victory, both City of Vision teams were 4-1 in district action, although the Storm had the advantage in the standings by virtue of that win over the Rams.

“I think (the win’s) huge because we got back into first place,” Cleveland coach Shane Shallenberger said.

It was the Rams’ fourth loss in a row to the Storm, dating back to their second 1-5A meeting last April, including a loss in a 5A state semifinal last May and a loss in the championship game of the New Mexico Invitational in Las Cruces on March 15.

Storm 5, Rams 4Cleveland could have won by a bigger margin, but two base-running gaffes in the sixth inning turned what might have been at least a four-run inning into a two-run frame and a 5-3 lead going into the seventh.

Nelson, who relieved starter Xavier Vasquez in the sixth with two down and runners at the corners and the game knotted at 3, got Noah Serna to fly out to right field, where the Storm’s Gunner Carey caught all three fly balls in the inning, looking into the sun.

In the bottom of the sixth, when Rams reliever Richie Reiffenberger was running out of gas and had just given up singles to Carey and Joshua Armijo to open it, with Carey gunned down at third, trying to advance two bases on Armijo’s hit.

Jacob Lucero came on in relief, and Armijo stole second, and then went to third on a wild pitch. Armijo broke the tie on a passed ball by Jackson Roybal, with Villa moving to second, then third on a wild pitch. A walk to Owen Bishop put runners at the corners, but Anthony Del Angel’s fly ball to right scored Villa to make it a 5-3 game, but turned into a double play when pinch runner Peyton Noel was retired at second on a throw from right fielder Logan Sunstrom to shortstop Wyatt Tinker.

“I told ’em we had to be smarter,” Shallenberger said later, not faulting his players for being aggressive on the base paths.

Down two runs and with only three outs left, the Rams staged a mild one-out rally. Tinker reached on an infield single, went to second and then third on two wild pitches.

Pinch-hitter Adrian Varoz walked, with Tinker scoring on a sacrifice fly to left, where Armijo made an outstanding “web gem,” twisting around the then leaping to grab it.

“It was a good one,” Armijo, a senior, said, chuckling. “I got a good bead on it; I just knew I had to put my body on the line for that catch — that was a do-or-die situation.”

“(It) saved the game, to be honest,” Shallenberger said. “I mean, if that gets by him, two runs score on that (instead of one).”

Varoz stole second and continued to third when catcher Bishop threw past second base. Then, on a 2-2 pitch to Cook, Nelson got him to swing and miss and end the thrilling contest.

It was a good game for Nelson, whose third-inning double drove in two runs off Rams starter Adan Bustos.

After the Rams scored twice to tie it in the top of the fifth on a double by Serna and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Tinker, Del Angel socked a homer in the bottom of that frame, setting the stage for the way the game played out mentioned above.

“No contest,” was all Rams coach David Gomez said as his team packed its gear and left the field.

Storm 10, Cibola 0On the mound on a very windy Friday, Villa fanned 10 Cougars (14-8, 2-4) while allowing only four hits in the six-inning victory.

A two-run triple by Caleb Sandoval and an RBI-double double by Santino Williams helped the Storm (15-6, 5-1) score more than enough runs for the district win.

Another RBI-double by Williams in the second extended the lead, and by game’s end, Sandoval and Williams each had three RBIs.

Bishop also had two hits for the Storm, who out-hit the Cougars 11-4 and played errorless ball.

The Rams’ game at Farmington (14-7, 1-4) was postponed because of the furious winds; it is scheduled to be made up on at 4 p.m. Saturday, May 3. Rio Rancho (16-5, 4-1) beat the Scorpions 10-9 in their April 2 meeting at RRHS.

Extra inningsHere are Cleveland’s final four games of the regular season, all starting at 4 p.m.: April 22 vs. Farmington; April 25 vs. Piedra Vista; April 29 at Volcano Vista; May 2 at Rio Rancho.

… Here are Rio Rancho’s final four games of the regular season, all starting at 4 p.m.: April 22 vs. Volcano Vista; April 25 at Cibola; April 29 at Piedra Vista; May 2 vs. Cleveland.

… Three Rams recently signed their letters of intent for next season: Serna will play at New Mexico Military Institute; Roybal will be off to Scottsdale (Arizona) Community College; and Bustos will be in Portales and Eastern New Mexico University, where he’ll be a teammate of former Storm standout Logan Kinter.