Rams edge Cleveland, 5-4, to win APS Metro third-place game

RIO RANCHO – Cleveland High School baseball coach Shane Shallenberger said he doesn’t mind playing four games in a row at Rio Rancho High School, where his team plays a first-round game vs. Sandia at 10 a.m. Thursday, March 28.

The Storm (10-3) are coming off a one-run loss there to the Rams (11-3) Saturday in the APS Metro Championships third-place game.

“I like playing here,” Shallenberger said Saturday, despite the loss, knowing the teams that met in the APS Metro title game, top seed La Cueva and No. 2 Sandia, could meet his Storm before another meeting with the Rams. “we’re gonna have to show up, be ready for it.”

Rio Rancho 5, Cleveland 4

: Senior Casen Savage hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning to erase what had been a 3-1 deficit, then pitched the final three innings in relief of starter Brandon Segal to earn a save.

“That feels good,” Savage said, after a 3 for 4 outing at the plate. “We definitely wanted the Metro championship – back-to-back-to back.”

Savage, who hit a homer in the Rams’ 5-3 loss in a Friday semifinal at Sandia, said his slider had “a lot of movement” and was working best for him against the Storm. He struck out six, only allowing an unearned run when a ground ball went through the legs of shortstop Wyatt Tinker in the seventh.

The tying run was on third base when Savage fanned Malachi Jaramillo to end the contest.

The Storm scored the game’s first three runs in the second inning.

With one down, Jaden Davis tripled and scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Josiah Armijo, who reached safely. Gabe Nelson singled and Owen Bishop followed with a single that scored Armijo. Jarren Villa’s sacrifice fly plated Nelson to end the Storm scoring till the seventh.

The Rams’ first run was scored by Savage in the third: He singled to right, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Sean Vigil.

Before his two-out homer in the next inning, Storm starter Javier Vasquez walked Ryan Lewis and Jackson Roybal. After Dean Ellison singled, Vasquez was done, and Noah Tillotson relieved him, allowing a run in the fifth off a sacrifice fly from Lewis. Nelson pitched the scoreless seventh for CHS.

“The team did a lot to get guys on. We got guys over; we executed well,” RRHS coach David Gomez said. “Segal settled in after that second inning. … So, (it was) a great team effort.”

Rio Rancho faces Goddard Thursday at 5:30 in the fourth and final game of the day. The other contests are Carlsbad vs. Albuquerque Academy at 12:30 and Artesia vs. La Cueva at 3.

The Rams and Storm could meet again Saturday on the final day of the annual Sal Puentes Rio Rancho tournament.