The prep baseball season is coming down to the wire with district titles and potential postseason tournament berths at stake.
Here’s a look at some of the latest scores on the basepaths across San Juan County.
The top-ranked Rio Rancho High School baseball team scored a convincing 6-1 road victory over Farmington Tuesday afternoon, extending the team’s win streak to 18 consecutive games.
Led by Sean Vigil’s 3-RBI performance, as well as a solid five innings on the mound from pitcher Kai Fitak, the Rams overcame an early 1-0 deficit to improve the team’s record this season to 20-1-2.
The Scorpions jumped on the Rams early, getting out to an 1-0 lead after one inning thanks to a James Martin sacrifice fly, which scored Chris Stocking who opened his game with a triple. That would wind up being the bulk of Farmington’s offense for the game.
Pitcher Eli Edmiston threw four solid innings for the Scorpions, striking out four and allowing only two runs. He was pulled from the game after surrendering back-to-back base hits to open the fifth inning, and was relieved by Anthony Richardson. The Scorpions lost the lead when Dylan Tinker drove in Josh Boyer with a single, giving the Rams a 2-1 lead with nobody out in the top of the fifth.
Rio Rancho would add another run in the sixth inning before putting the game out of reach in the top of the seventh when Vigil picked up a base hit to score both Fitak and Casen Savage.
Fitak threw five strong innings for Rio Rancho, striking out six Scorpions hitters and surrendering only two hits and one walk. Seth Lee came into the game in the sixth inning and walked a pair of hitters to close out the contest.
Farmington falls to 11-10 overall on the season. They will be back in action Saturday at noon for a road doubleheader against District 2-5A rival La Cueva. The Bears (17-4) have won seven straight games and are unbeaten against district competition this season.
Sylas Hengst drove in a pair of runs while Kale Watson had a double and a triple, leading the Aztec High School baseball team to an important district win Tuesday afternoon over Gallup.
The win keeps Aztec in a four-way tie atop the District 1-4A standings with Bloomfield, Kirtland Central and Miyamura, each team posting identical 4-2 records within the district.
The Tigers jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the first half inning of the game, thanks to RBIs from Kaleb Thornburg, Jacob Prada-Johnson, Xavier Newton and Justin Bixler.
Gallup (3-17 overall, 1-5 District) clawed its way back into the game, scoring twice in the bottom of the second inning before adding a run in the third. That 4-3 margin lasted until the top of the fourth inning when Hengst drove in Izaiah Sanchez to pad the Tigers’ lead.
Aztec scored four runs in the top of the fifth inning to put the game out of reach. The Tigers got strong outings on the mound from Watson, Thornburg and Bixler who combined to strike out 10 Bengals hitters while surrendering five hits and nine walks.
The Tigers will be back in action at 3 p.m. Thursday when they visit Shiprock. The Tigers rallied for a 9-8 win at home in the only other meeting between the teams earlier this month.
Senior Francisco Rivera had a big day for the Bloomfield High School baseball team, driving in four runs and picking up the win from the mound as the Bobcats rolled to a 16-6 district win at home Tuesday afternoon over Kirtland Central High School.
Rivera hit one of three home runs by the Bobcats to go along with Andreas Gordo and Blake Spencer as the Bobcats earned their third straight win, improving their record on the season to 14-5 overall (4-2 District 1-4A).
The Bobcats got out to an early 4-0 lead heading to the second inning after Spencer hit a grand slam over the left field wall. Kirtland Central (12-10, 4-2 District) clawed its way back into the contest thanks to a 2-RBI triple off the bat of Tyler Joe, scoring both Shadwyn Simpson and Demusico Edsitty.
Bloomfield extended the lead, scoring twice in the bottom of the second inning before adding four more runs in the third inning. With the Bobcats leading 11-6 heading into the fifth, Bloomfield ended the contest scoring five times to earn the run-rule win.
Rivera gave up nine hits in four innings from the mound, striking out four Broncos hitters. Trae Woods pitched one inning of relief to finish the game.
Bloomfield, ranked No. 10 in the state at Class 4A according to MaxPreps, will be home for the next pair of district games. The Bobcats will host Gallup at 4 p.m. Thursday. Bloomfield lost to Gallup on the road 5-3 last week in the first district matchup of the season.
KCHS will be home at 3 p.m. Thursday to face Miyamura for the second time this season. The Broncos lost 11-4 at Miyamura last week.
Senior Chris Chavez drove in three runs to lead the Miyamura High School baseball team to a 7-3 district win Monday afternoon over Shiprock.
Chavez went 2-for-3 at the plate with a double, while senior Oscar Flores and junior Dylan Joines each knocked in a pair of runs to give the Patriots the third win in its last four games, improving their record on the season to 8-11 overall (4-2 District 1-4A).
Senior Isaiah Martinez added to the Miyamura offense with three stolen bases while also pitching four innings and giving up only three hits and striking out three Chieftains batters.
Shiprock (6-10 overall, 1-5 District) will be home to face Aztec at 3 p.m. Thursday. The Chieftains lost a heartbreaker 9-8 at home April 11 in the first meeting of the season between the two teams.
Miyamura will travel to KCHS (12-9 overall, 4-1 District) Thursday for their second meeting of the season. The Broncos suffered their only district loss of the season last week at Miyamura by a final of 11-4.
