FARMINGTON – Opening round action of the New Mexico Activities Association’s high school baseball tournament opened up last weekend, with several teams from San Juan County taking part in the action.
First round matchups in the 16-team tournament are held over the course of two days in a best two-out-of-three game series. The winner of that series moves on in the brackets with the losers being eliminated from the tournament.
Here’s a recap of some of the early round games.
The Farmington High School baseball team saw its season come to an end last weekend, dropping two consecutive games in a best two-out of three series against Centennial.
In Friday’s opening game of the series, Centennial scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning and were never seriously threatened, winning by a final of 12-4.
The sixth-seeded Hawks added to their 4-0 lead with three more runs in the bottom of the third inning on their way to victory. Aaron Gutierrez had a pair of RBI’s in the opening game, as did Brynden Frausto, Jake Estep and Ruben Hernandez.
On Saturday, the Hawks outscored Farmington 6-2, thanks to Keeran Reid’s pair of RBIs which led Centennial into the second round of the Class 5A tournament and a game against third-seeded Carlsbad on Thursday at 10 a.m.
The Scorpions finish the season with an overall record of 13-14 and were third in District 2-5A with a record of 5-5.
The Piedra Vista High School baseball team is headed to the second round of the Class 5A state tournament after earning a win via forfeit over Cleveland High School.
The Panthers lost the opening game of the three-game series on Friday by a score of 9-8, then came back on Saturday to even the series with an 11-3 victory.
In Saturday afternoon’s third and deciding game, the Storm beat the Panthers 4-3, but were forced to vacate the win because of a violation of NMAA rules regarding usage of pitchers.
According to official game statistics obtained from Narrative Science and GameChanger.com, Logan Kinter, who pitched one inning and threw 36 pitches in Friday’s opening game, came back in Saturday’s third game to work six innings, throwing 103 pitches.
NMAA baseball bylaws state, “at the varsity level, a pitcher may throw 120 pitches in any three-day period. Once a player exceeds the maximum pitch count threshold, that player is considered ineligible to pitch, and if used as pitcher once ineligible, the game must be forfeited by the team in violation of these regulations.”
Kinter, who threw 139 pitches over the course of two days, was ruled ineligible and thus, the Storm were forced to vacate the victory and were eliminated from the tournament.
The 12th-seeded Panthers will now prepare to face fourth-seeded Volcano Vista in a second round clash on Thursday at 7 p.m.
In Friday’s opening game of the series against Cleveland, Piedra Vista squandered away an 8-0 lead before losing 9-8 in nine innings.
Piedra Vista went into the bottom of the seventh inning needing only three outs to secure a win in the first game of the first-round series. Instead, the Storm rallied to score eight times and sending the game into extra innings.
Kinter drove in three runs with a bases-clearing triple, while Chase Tyler and Jaden Davis each recorded a pair of hits while combining for two RBIs and two runs scored.
On Saturday, the Panthers got solid production from Alijah Aranda, who scored three runs and Trey Valdez, who scored twice in an 11-3 win over the Storm.
Piedra Vista took advantage of some sloppy defensive work by Cleveland, which committed six errors in the game.
Meantime, Dax Vigil was impressive on the mound, allowing eight hits and a walk over seven complete innings to earn the win.
The Bloomfield High School baseball team saw its season come to an end in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament after back-to-back losses on the road against Artesia.
Friday’s opening game of the first round series found Bloomfield on the short end, losing by a score of 10-6.
Nye Estrada drove in three runs, scored twice and went 3-for-4 at the plate as the Bulldogs took the advantage in the two-out of three-game series.
The 12th seeded Bobcats gave up 13 hits in the contest, with Jack Byers also leading Artesia. Byers went 3-for-4 at the plate with a double and a pair of runs batted in.
On Saturday, it was Diego Samora and Ethan Ramirez who did most of the damage for Artesia as they rolled to a 13-3 victory.
The fifth-seeded Bulldogs will now get ready for a second round clash against fourth-seeded Belen on Thursday at 10 a.m.
Bloomfield’s season ends with an overall record of 17-9 (7-3 District 1-4A) and finishing in second place in the district standings.
The Aztec High School baseball team failed to get past the first round of the Class A state tournament, losing back to back games on the road against Belen.
The fourth-seeded Eagles scored early and often in Friday’s opening game of the first round series, leading to an 11-1 rout over the Tigers.
Despite giving up a run in the top of the first inning, Belen answered back quickly, scoring nine unanswered runs over the course of three innings and gaining the advantage in the first round matchup.
Belen was led in the opening game by Brysen Soiles, who drove in three runs while going 2-for-3 at the plate with a pair of doubles. Tyler Martinez scored three runs and drove in a pair of runs in the victory.
Pitcher Christian Wilson threw a complete game, 5-inning gem on the hill for the Eagles, allowing only three hits and a pair of walks while striking out five Tigers hitters.
In Saturday’s second game of the potential three-game series, Belen again struck early, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning before adding six more runs in the second inning on its way to an 11-1 rout over the Tigers.
Damian Avila did most of the damage for Belen, driving in five runs, the majority of which came on a bases-clearing triple in the bottom of the first inning off Aztec starting pitcher Justin Bixler.
Luciano Gomez scored three runs and went 3-for-4 at the plate while Malakhi Chavez did the hard work on the mound, striking out seven Aztec hitters while allowing only two hits and a pair of walks.
Aztec’s season comes to an end with an overall record of 14-12, finishing third in District 1-4A with a record of 6-4.
Belen will advance to the second round of the tournament and a game against Artesia.
