City baseball teams open 1-5A with wins

RIO RANCHO – Now, it really starts to count.

The Rio Rancho High School baseball team visits Cleveland at 4 p.m. tomorrow, April 12, in their first of two District 1-5A contests of the season.

The Rams (15-3, 1-0 in District 1-5A) won the APS Metro Championships third-place game, 5-4, over the Storm (14-4, 1-0) on March 23, but that meant nothing in the all-important district standings. The teams’ second district meeting is at RRHS on April 30.

All-time, the Rams hold a 20-18 edge over the Storm.

“We’re excited to play them,” CHS coach Shane Shallenberger said. “I think it’s always a good game when we play them. Both teams know each other really well; everyone gets along pretty well.”

Here’s an update on the city teams’ games played last week:

Rio Rancho 11, Atrisco Heritage Academy 0: It was only a coincidence the afternoon of April 2, when the host Rams whitewashed the Jaguars — it improved the Rams’ record vs. the Jaguars all-time to 11-0.

The Rams had all the runs they’d need before their first out of the game and held a 6-0 lead after the first inning.

Two walks, a hit batter, a two-run single by Sean Vigil and, an out later, an RBI double by Ryan Lewis made it 5-0 and the end for AHA starter Carlos Baca.

Ram starting pitcher Ryan Archuleta was hit by a pitch by the first of two AHA relievers, and his courtesy runner, Aidan Gallegos, soon scored the sixth run.

The Rams added four runs in the second inning.

Casen Savage singled and stole second, then scored on a single by Dean Ellison. Nick DiGregorio hit a two-run homer to make it 9-0, and Sean Vigil followed with a single and soon scored on a single by Archuleta.

Even with the 10-run mercy rule, the visiting team needs to bat in the fifth, and by then it was 11-0 on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Bryson Martinez in the fourth.

With the substantial lead, Archuleta was relieved in the fourth by Vigil, and Keegan Burke tossed the fifth; Vigil and Burke each walked a batter.

Coach David Gomez was happy to empty most of his bench.

“Archie gave us a good start on the mound; we played clean defense, got some hits — that’s all you can ask for,” he said. “It’s good to get ’em in; a lot of guys sat still for a while because we played one-run ballgames, extra-inning games … it’s tough to get guys in. It was good to have a game like this.”

The Rams played Cibola Tuesday at RRHS.

Cleveland 7, Farmington 5: The Storm had a productive trip to the Four Corners on April 2, returning with a 7-5 victory over Farmington. Jaden Davis was the winning pitcher for the Storm.

A four-run fifth inning extended the visitors’ lead from 2-1 to 6-1, enough for Davis.

“I thought Jaden threw really well,” Shallenberger said. "We pulled him after five; he had 10 Ks, only walked one guy. We felt we needed a little work with our bullpen.”

Cleveland 20, Cibola 3: On windy April 5 “down the hill,” the Storm got their first district win with an 11-run outburst in the second inning.

In spite of the lopsided win, Shallenberger said he thought his team lacked energy, likely from the long trip to Farmington combined with what had been seven games in nine days when you add the APS Metro Championships with the Sal Puentes Rio Rancho Tournament.

Silas Hilton and Jaden Davis each stroked two-run doubles in the first inning before Cleveland starter Jarren Villa walked the first Cougar he faced and then gave up a home run on the next pitch to catcher Jake Segotta to make it 4-2. Those were the only runs surrendered by Villa, who struck out the side three times and finished with 10 strikeouts in the four frames he worked.

Cleveland sent 16 batters to the plate in the decisive second inning, when Hilton added three more RBIs to his fine day at the plate and Malachi Jaramillo added two RBIs. Cibola used three pitchers in that inning. Only three of the 11 runs were earned.

After Villa made it 16-2 with an RBI double in the third, he scored when Brandon Hennessy stroked a two-run homer for an 18-2 lead.

The Storm scored their final two runs in the fifth, capped by an RBI single from Villa, who left the mound in favor of Gabe Nelson, who allowed the Cougars’ final run on a walk, stolen bases and “very” wild pitch that catcher Owen Bishop couldn’t locate.

By game’s end, seven of the Storm’s first 15 runs were by players who’d walked or been hit by a pitch, and Cibola (8-10, 0-2) pitchers walked/hit a total of 10 Cleveland batters for a lot of free base runners.

Villa and Hennessy led the hit parade with three hits apiece; Davis had two hits.

It was the most runs scored by the Storm since an 18-0 win over Deming in a tournament in Las Cruces in March 2022.

The Storm were home Tuesday to face Volcano Vista.

Extra innings: The Rams are home at 4 p.m. tomorrow (April 9) to meet Cibola; they're home to meet Volcano Vista April 16, then play at Atrisco Heritage Academy on April 19; both of those games are at 4 p.m.

… Cleveland is home to meet Volcano Vista at 4 p.m. tomorrow (April 9), then gets another shot at No. 1 La Cueva at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Shock Yards. The Bears beat the Storm 5-0 in an APS Metro semifinal at La Cueva on March 22.