Rams baseball team moves into today’s quarterfinal round

RIO RANCHO – Here’s something you rarely, if ever, see at a baseball game: eight consecutive pinch-hitters.

If you were at Rio Rancho High School on March 19, you would have seen that, as the host Rams opened the APS Metro Baseball Championships with a 14-1 rout of Manzano in the first round.

The decisive victory sent the Rams into the quarterfinals on March 20 vs. visiting Eldorado, a 5-4 winner over Los Lunas in its first-round game.

The Rams spotted the Monarchs a run in the first inning, when freshman starter Keegan Burke had trouble finding the plate; he walked three Monarchs and hit another, and an infield single plated their lone run.

“You could tell (Burke) was a little nervous,” acting head coach David Gomez said. “Home opener; he’s the first guy to pitch in front of our home crowd, so he was a little bit nervous. He came through; he kind of settled in the second and third inning. Then Alex (Gallegos) came in and shut the door on them.”

The damage could have been worse, but catcher Jordan Sena nailed a would-be base stealer at third base, giving Manzano one less out to work with.

Down 1-0 coming to the plate in the third, the Rams sent 15 batters to the plate, in which Ryan Lewis whacked a grand slam and Sean Vigil capped the outburst with a three-run triple, making it 11-1 when he scored on a wild pitch. The final 10 runs scored after there were two outs, with three Monarch errors prolonging the damage.

Alex Gallegos relieved Burke to start the fourth and went on to fan five over the final two frames, with the contest shortened via the 10-run mercy rule.

In the Rams’ fourth, the parade of pinch-hitters took place. Here’s what they did:

Adam Bustos doubled; Dylan Macias flew out; Anthony Knoll flew out to right; Brandon Segal reached on an RBI infield single; Noah Serna reached on an error; Bryson Martinez reached when the right fielder dropped the ball; Aidan Gallegos had an RBI groundout; and Damian Fifer grounded out.

Gomez said he still had a couple players ready, taking practice swings, happy to get as many players into the game as possible.

The victory sends the Rams (9-2) into a 3:30 home game vs. Eldorado (5-1) today (March 20).

Cleveland also won Tuesday, with a four-run sixth inning paving the way for a 10-9 win over Hope Christian. The Storm, as the 5 seed, play at 4 seed Volcano Vista today at 3:30.