Rams fall in Metro final; Storm take 8th place

ALBUQUERQUE — Top seed and defending state baseball champ La Cueva took advantage of three first-inning errors by the visiting second-seeded Rio Rancho Rams to take a 4-0 lead and held on for a 9-7 victory in the APS Metro championship game Monday afternoon.

The Rams (10-3) got the potential tying run on first base in the seventh, Micah Takahashi, with two outs and leadoff batter Jackson Roybal at the plate, but Takahashi was picked off first to end the game.

Roybal had doubled home two runs in the sixth, when the Rams made it an 8-5 deficit.

“We’re real young and inexperienced; some of those errors are gonna happen. We’re gonna make mistakes,” Rams head coach David Gomez said.

On Saturday in a semifinal, Sandia edged the Bears 3-2 but wound up forfeiting the game for using a pitcher that exceeded the 120-pitches-in-three-days limit.

Rams 6, Cibola 2Wyatt Tinker, Logan Sunstrom and Adrian Varoz each drove in two runs Saturday morning to lead the host Rams to the win over the Cougars and send RRHS into the Metro championship game.

Bradon Segal pitched the first five innings, but back-to-back walks and a shallow outfield single loaded the bases in the sixth, threatening the Rams’ 4-0 lead.

Gomez sent Noah Serna to the mound and got a sacrifice fly to end the shutout bid before getting the next two Cougars to hit balls that remained in the infield.

The Rams added a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth, this time on Tinker’s single to left, padding the lead. Earlier Varoz drove in a pair of runs in the third, and Sunstrom did likewise in the fifth.

A pair of walks, an error and a single for the Cougars in the seventh made things interesting, but Serna got Isaac Brito to fly out to centerfielder Chase Rivera to end the game.

Rio Rancho 2, Eldorado 0In a Thursday quarterfinal contest, junior southpaw Dean Ellison twirled a complete-game, 91-pitch, nine-strikeout two-hitter, leading the Rams past No. 6 Eldorado and into the semifinals.

Ellison and Jace Sanchez- Reynolds of the Eagles were involved in an outstanding pitching duel. It wasn’t until the bottom of the sixth that Rio Rancho finally broke through with its two runs.

In the Rio Rancho sixth, Jackson Roybal scored from second base on a dropped fly ball in the outfield to break the scoreless tie. Varoz singled home the second run moments later.

Rams 12, Albuquerque Academy 8In Wednesday’s opening round, moved back a day because of horrendous winds on March 18, the host Rams scored 11 unanswered runs to snatch victory from the mouth of defeat.

Trailing 8-1 after two innings, the Rams got back into the game with a four-run third and closed within a run with two more in the fourth.

Freshman Richie Reiffenberger shackled the Chargers’ bats after relieving an ineffective Brayden Bustillos — ineffective, as in yielding a two-run homer and hitting two batters in the three he faced. Bustillos came into the game in the second, after starter Alex Gallegos was roughed up for the first seven Academy runs, although the two he gave up in the first inning were unearned.

Reiffenberger went five innings in relief, allowing only an infield hit and fanning six, after getting a double-play grounder to end the second-inning rally.

The game-winning hit came off the bat of senior Anthony Knoll, whose three-run homer in the sixth made it an 11-8 lead for the Rams.

Serna worked a scoreless seventh on the mound for the Rams, who advanced into Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Cleveland finishes 8thLos Lunas 3, Storm 2Second-seeded Cleveland (8-5) lost its third game in a row Monday afternoon, as the visiting Tigers eked out a one-run win to finish seventh.

“It was a well-played game by both teams,” CHS coach Shane Shallenberger said, happy his squad had turned in an error-free contest. “They came through with one more run than we did.”

Eldorado 7, Storm 4 (9 innings)“Errors did hurt us in this game,” Shallenberger said, becoming frustrated with his team’s early season defense.

“Jarren Villa threw seven innings, gave up four runs — one earned — and struck out nine.”

By game’s end — the Eagles scored three runs in the top of the ninth — the Storm had committed four errors, and only two runs were earned by EHS.

Alex Larvie suffered the loss.

“No one in our lineup had more than one hit,” Shallenberger added.

Cibola 5, Storm 2Through four innings Thursday afternoon, the Storm and Cougars had combined for one hit.

“They started hitting in the sixth and seventh innings,” Shallenberger said.

Lefty Xavier Vasquez went the first six innings, striking out 13 but allowing two earned runs and taking the loss. Gabe Nelson gave up three hits and as many runs while pitching the seventh.

Caleb Sandoval and Hernandez each went 2 for 3 to lead the Storm, which had only one other hit.

“We left eight guys on base and didn’t have a hit when needed,” Shallenberger lamented.

The loss sent the Storm into the consolation bracket.

Storm 16, Manzano 6A seven-run fifth inning Wednesday afternoon ended this game early.

Starting pitcher Treven Polanco went three innings and gave up four runs, of which two were earned; Larvie gave up two runs, although neither was earned.

Francisco Hernandez led the hit parade, going 4 for 4 with a triple and an inside-the-park home run.

“I thought we showed up flat and (didn’t have) much energy,” Shallenberger said.

Rams, Storm remain in town this weekCleveland and Rio Rancho’s next ballgames are March 27, in the first round of the annual Rio Rancho Sal Puentes Tournament; the host Rams meet Goddard at 3 p.m.

Other first-round games are Academy vs. La Cueva at 10 a.m.; St. Pius X vs. Carlsbad at 12:30 p.m.; and Artesia vs. Cleveland at 5:30 p.m.

The Rams edged Sandia 2-1 in the tourney finale last season.

Both city teams open the District 1-5A season on Tuesday, April 1: The Rams are home to meet new district foe Farmington, while the Storm head down the hill to Cibola. Both games start at 4 p.m.

Also next week, the teams play their second district games. On April 4, also at 4 p.m., the Rams are at Volcano Vista and the Storm travel to Farmington.

Former Ram plays in Cactus League contestOne-time RRHS infielder Gunner Gouldsmith, drafted last June by the Oakland A’s in the 19th round out of Sacramento State, and his father, Buddy, had a unique experience in Arizona on March 21.

Gunner, who played as a freshman (2016) and sophomore (2017) and was an All-State second-teamer in ’17, for the Rams before the family moved to Reno, met his father, an area supervisor for the Kansas City Royals, at home plate before the game to exchange lineups, where they also posed for photos with the day’s umpires.

Later, Gunner got into the game at second base and had a seventh-inning single for the victorious A’s. He had been rated the top shortstop in Nevada before playing one season at Washington State, then finished his collegiate career at Sac State.