Starting hot at the plate, Bernalillo baseball prepares for March schedule

BERNALILLO — A season can take time to ramp up, but for Bernalillo baseball, they have already had their fair share of memorable moments.

Sitting at 3-2 before entering the Bloomfield Tournament, hosted at the Bobcats’ home, the Spartans’ three victories have all come in different ways.

On opening day, Bernalillo wasted no time putting on an offensive clinic, taking down Kirtland Central 11-0.

Seven different Spartans recorded a hit in the home rout, including multi-hit season starts from Issac Acosta, Joaquin Casaus and Ulisses Castro.

On the mound, Brandon Keyonnie would be excellent. Bernalillo’s junior righty tossed five innings of shutout baseball, finishing with 12 strikeouts on just two hits.

That momentum would carry over into tournament play, taking part in the Valencia Tournament during the last weekend of February.

Facing Silver High in the opening round, the Spartans found themselves down 3-1 heading into the final inning. 

On the verge of taking a weekend-opening loss, Bernalillo would rally. An RBI single from Issac Acosta would make it 3-1 and set the table for Joaquin Casaus.

Casaus, in what was a hitless day up to that point, delivered a two-run single to save the day for the Spartans and take the 4-3 victory.

A 2-0 record doesn’t get much better via a runaway victory and a walkoff stunner, but that euphoria would run out when the Spartans ran into the hosting Valencia Jaguars.

Valencia would silence the Spartans with a 13-4 second-round victory before doubling down in a non-district matchup at Spartan Alley, where they won 18-8.

Jaguar woes aside, Bernalillo enters the final stretch of non-district play at 3-2, thanks to a gritty high-scoring 13-11 victory over Aztec in a consolation matchup of last weekend's bracket.

Against the Tigers, the day was owned by senior Zachary Duran’s explosion of a five-RBI game, tallying two doubles and one triple.

After a seven-run fifth inning from Aztec tried to steal the show from the Spartans' big day at the plate, Bernalillo once again found late-game heroics with a four-run seventh inning to pull out the win and end their weekend on a high note.

Bernalillo has outscored its opponents by double digits in its victories, holding a 28-14 run margin. 

They will look to continue their hot start on offense and get their pitching staff in top form as they head into their final non-district tournament of the season.

After that, the Spartans' next home game will be on March 14, when they host the Moriarty Pintos.