Rams edge Storm for 3rd place in Metro baseball

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. on 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, after each City of Vision team lost in semifinal games in the Northeast Heights on a perfect spring day Friday.

“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.”

In addition to the possibility of the city’s teams meeting Saturday – if they both have the same outcomes today and Friday – the teams meet twice in District 1-5A contests April 12 (at Cleveland) and April 30 (at Rio Rancho). Then there’s always a chance they could meet in the postseason.

Rio Rancho 5, Cleveland 3: 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 in the consolation contest.

“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’ loss in a Friday semifinal at Sandia, keeping his Rams out of the championship contest (won by La Cueva), 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 three games following Thursday’s Sandia-Cleveland meeting: Rio Rancho faces Goddard 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.

There will be the same game times on Friday; Saturday’s championship game is at 3 p.m.; the third-place game is at 12:30.

How RRHS fared before meeting the Storm

Rio Rancho 14, Manzano 1: On March 19, the Rams ripped the visiting Monarchs in a game shortened to five innings.

The host Rams sent 15 batters to the plate in the third inning, scoring 11 runs -- 10 of them after two outs. Right fielder Sean Vigil got the rally started with a two-out RBI double, and later added a three-run triple.

Third baseman Ryan Lewis chipped in with a grand slam in that frame, prolonged by three Manzano errors.

The Monarchs' run was scored in the first inning, when Rams freshman righty Keegan Burke walked three and hit a batter.

Rams acting head coach Dave Gomez attributed that to a case of nerves, as it was the Rams' first home game since May 6, 2023.

Rio Rancho 9, Eldorado 3: Although the host Rams never trailed, after scoring three runs on just two hits in the first inning, they didn't get their next hit until the fifth in this March 20 contest.

After the Eagles scored two runs in the sixth, it was a 4-3 lead.

The Rams’ offense came alive in the sixth -- five runs on five hits -- and the third-seeded Rams were back in the Metro semifinals.

Catcher Jordan Sena sparked the Rams, going 2 for 4 with three RBIs: Vigil supplied a two-run single in the sixth.

Sandia 5, Rio Rancho 3: Sandia senior right-hander Zach Kmatz and Rio Rancho sophomore lefty Dean Ellison were involved in a pitchers’ duel.

“These are the fun games,” Kmatz said.

It was the Matadors who found a solution first, and it was the bottom of their lineup that sparked rallies in both the fifth and sixth innings.

Vigil’s RBI single in the top of the sixth for Rio Rancho cut the deficit to 2-1, and the Rams had the bases loaded before Kmatz got a ground ball to end the inning.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Matadors scored three times for a 5-1 lead.

Casen Savage ripped a two-run homer for the Rams in the top of the seventh before reliever Levi Brooks closed out Rio Rancho.

How CHS fared before meeting the Rams

Cleveland 10, Hope Christian 9: Davis’s two-out, two-RBI triple to right center in the bottom of the sixth (he drove in four for the game) lifted the fifth-seeded Storm to a 10-9 victory over No. 12 Hope Christian on March 19.

The host Storm led 5-0 early, but the Huskies came back to lead 9-6 in the sixth. Cleveland put up four runs in the sixth, and Anthony Del Angel pitched the seventh to record the save for the Storm.

Cleveland 4, Volcano Vista 3: At Volcano Vista on the 20th, the Storm edged the fourth-seeded Hawks after scoring three runs in the first inning and holding on behind the strong starting pitching performance of Davis.

Josiah Armijo’s two-RBI single highlighted Cleveland’s first-inning rally. The Hawks also walked home a run.

Leading 3-1 in the third, Del Angel’s RBI triple to right-center made the lead 4-1 for Cleveland.

The Hawks scored twice in the bottom half of the third, but Davis retired the final six batters he faced in the matchup of District 1-5A rivals. He gave up five hits and struck out eight in his complete game.

La Cueva 5, Cleveland 0: The host Bears continued their Metro shutout streak behind a two-hitter by junior righty Dylan Blomker and a 5-run outburst in the second inning.

Blomker (2-0) struck out seven, didn't walk a batter or allow a hit after the second inning.

Only two Storm (10-2) baserunners got as far as third base.

In the decisive second inning, the Bears sent 10 hitters to the plate, rapping seven hits -- four of the infield variety. Six of the hits were singles.

Joseph Stevenson went the distance for Cleveland, allowing only three other hits other than in the second, with no Bear getting beyond second base.

Blomker’s first win of the season occurred 15 days earlier, a 14-4 victory over the City of Vision's other team, Rio Rancho High School.

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