Rams’ baseball team sweeps Scorpions

RIO RANCHO — It’s off to the Class 5A Nusenda Credit Union quarterfinal round for the No. 2 Rio Rancho Rams, who swept their 1-5A rival, the visiting 15th-ranked Farmington Scorpions, in two games Friday and Saturday.

At 10 a.m. Thursday, May 15, the Rams (22-6) will meet the No. 7 Centennial Hawks (22-6) at the Jennifer Riordan Spark Kindness complex. The Hawks also needed just two games to dispose of No. 10 Rio Grande, 16-6 and 8-5, over the weekend.

“I’m excited about our matchup with Centennial,” said Rams coach David Gomez. “Coach Evans is a very good coach and will have his team ready.”

Any residuals expected, in light of the Rams beating Centennial in the 2023 championship game?

“That would be hard to say,” Gomez said. “There are a couple guys that were on that team two years ago, but every season is different.

“We’ve gone through a lot of changes since ’23,” he added. “I’m sure they have as well. … Either way, we are down to the eight best teams in the state — every team has their eyes set on one thing.”

Rams 13, Farmington 5On Friday afternoon, junior infielder Wyatt Tinker learned about the ups and downs of the national pastime.

After drawing a walk in the first inning and being forced at second for the third out, he came to the plate three consecutive times — in the second, fourth and fifth innings — with the bases loaded.

Bad news: He struck out to end the second inning.

Good news: He supplied a two-run single in the fourth and again in the fifth, driving in four of the nine runs the Rams scored in those two frames.

He batted again in the sixth, with a runner at third, but didn’t hit the ball deep enough to score a run.

More bad news: In the top of the seventh, he made an error on what could have been a double play, extending the Scorpions’ inning, in which they only scored one run.

After Farmington scored twice in the second inning, the Rams made it a 2-1 game with a double by Matt Cook and a single by Sunstrom.

Ten batters came to the plate in the decisive fourth inning, when the Rams scored five runs on just two hits — Tinker’s single and a single by Cook.

The Rams batted around again in the fifth, with Tinker’s two RBIs, plus an RBI from Dean Ellison and a Noah Serna sacrifice fly scoring the final run in that outburst.

A sac fly from Ellison and an RBI single by Serna accounted for two of the Rams’ three runs in the sixth.

Brandon Segal (8-0) was never in trouble of losing his team’s lead and nearly had a complete game. He left with the bases loaded and two down; Micah Takahashi relieved him and got the final out on a strikeout.

Cook led the offense with three hits; Chase Rivera, Tinker, Adrian Varoz and Alex Gallegos each had two hits.

Rams 9, Farmington 2On Saturday morning the Rams grabbed a 3-0 lead their first time at the plate.

Serna drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, and Jackson Roybal added a two-run double.

An RBI single by Ellison made it 4-1 after two, and the Rams took advantage of an error and three walks to add four runs to the scoreboard.

Although the game was pretty much over by then, the Rams padded their lead with two more runs in the fifth.

By game’s end, Chase Rivera was 4-for-4 with a triple, while Tinker and Cook had two hits each.

Adan Bustos was the winning pitcher, giving up a run through four innings; Sunstrom went the final three for a save, also giving up one run. Each pitcher allowed just two hits.

“Anytime you can get past a storied program like Farmington in the playoffs, that’s an accomplishment,” said Gomez. “We got two good starts from Segal and Bustos in our first (game), and Sunstrom with a save in game 2.”

Extra inningsThe winner of Thursday’s Rams-Hawks game will face the winner of the Sandia-Cibola quarterfinal in a semifinal game, also at the Riordan complex, at 4 p.m. Friday. No. 14 Cibola knocked out host and No. 3 Carlsbad in three games, while No. 6 Sandia did likewise to No. 11 Piedra Vista. The championship game is set for 6 p.m. Saturday at Santa Ana Star Field (aka Lobo Field).

… Tinker, Segal, Bustos and Ellison were first-teamers on the 1-5A All-District team. Serna, Rivera, Cook and Varoz were named to the second team, while catchers Roybal and Mattheis Santhbouern received honorable mention.

… Former Rams infielder Tyler Murphy (Class of 2021) will play next season at St. Norbert College in Wisconsin, after the school he played for the past three seasons, Northland College, also in Wisconsin, closed due to financial reasons. (It was founded in 1892.) Murphy’s .325 batting average in 2024 led the team; his 40 career stolen bases there remains third-best in school history.