Rams open district baseball slate with win

RIO RANCHO — It was only a coincidence the afternoon of April 2, when the host Rio Rancho High School baseball team whitewashed Atrisco Heritage Academy 11-0.

That 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 (15-3, 1-0 in District 1-5A) 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 awhile (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 play Cibola on Tuesday at RRHS; the Rams are at Cleveland at 4 p.m. Friday, April 12. The Storm beat Farmington 7-5 on Tuesday and visit Cibola Friday, April 5.