FARMINGTON – The Colton (California) Nighthawks join the long list of teams coming to this month’s Connie Mack World Series after capturing the championship of a west regional tournament held last week in Irvine, California.
The Nighthawks, from San Bernardino County, will be making its fifth straight appearance in the CMWS, joining the Southern California Renegades as the only teams in the tournament this summer from California.
Coached by Ruben Montano, the Nighthawks advanced to the Connie Mack World Series after beating the GBG Inland Empire squad by a final of 11-0 in the regional qualifying championship game. The Nighthawks went unbeaten in the tournament and perhaps most impressively, gave up only one run in their last five games.
Chad Horton threw a one-hit shutout in the final game of the tournament, pitching five innings and striking out five batters to earn the victory. Horton, a left-handed pitcher who recently graduated from Elsinore High School, led his prep baseball team last season with a record of 5-2 and 74 strikeouts in nearly 60 innings of work.
“(Horton) is a kid who’s not going to overpower you on the mound, but he’s going to put you to sleep,” Montano said. “He’s a solid lefty with good stuff who’s going to make batters work to get on base.”
Last year, the Nighthawks advanced to the final four of the Connie Mack World Series before being eliminated by the eventual champion Midland (Ohio) Redskins by a score of 9-1.
“You can never have enough arms to compete against a team like Midland,” Montano said. “But it’s always an amazing run we have to get to Farmington for the World Series. We’ve been close a couple of times to winning it, and it’s always a bittersweet thing when you get that close.”
The Nighthawks also had solid performances at the plate during its most recent run in the west region qualifier, outscoring opponents by a combined margin of 47-1.
The Nighthawks jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the top of the first inning over GBG Inland Empire in the championship game. Led by Jarren Sanderson’s 4-RBI performance, which included a 3-run home run to left field in the opening frame, the Nighthawks continued to pound away at the Inland Empire team, scoring at least one run in each of the five innings of the victory.
“(Sanderson) is a tall kid who really got his hands turned in on that home run,” Montano said. “He’s been with the program a little while now and he’s really developed into a real solid hitter on the team.”
The Nighthawks advanced to the finals thanks to solid pitching performances from Josh Torres and Josh Martinez, who combined to strike out eight batters and allowed only one run to score in a 14-1 rout over Team California in the regional qualifier semifinal game.
“We’ve got the right balance of pitching that comes in handy at the Connie Mack,” Montano said. “Now we just have to go out there and earn it.”
Noah Andrunas, a recent graduate from Gahr High School, also had an impressive run during the qualifying tournament. Andrunas, a recent commit to UC Riverside, had a 12-strikeout performance over seven complete innings during an early round victory over the So Cal Renegades Red squad. The Nighthawks won that matchup by a final of 2-0 as Andrunas surrendered only three hits and one walk in the win.
The Nighthawks entry into the Connie Mack World Series leaves only two spots open for the complete 12-team lineup. The local qualifying tournament will wrap up this weekend at Ricketts Park to determine which team will represent the city of Farmington in the CMWS. The final team to reach the World Series will be determined over the weekend during a regional qualifying event in Oklahoma.
A total of 28 teams are entered in that final qualifying event, including the 2021 CMWS champion Enid Majors.
For more information about the Connie Mack World Series, including the teams which will be coming and a schedule of events, visit CMWS.org.
