Artesia’s Natera tied NM record with four-HR game
Two Metro events kick off next week
While there may be others whose Ruthian heroics aren’t yet widely known, there is — or was — only one certified high school athlete on the books in New Mexico who had swatted four home runs in a single baseball game.
That number doubled earlier this week.
Artesia junior third baseman Aaron Natera went deep four times on Tuesday in a district game at Lovington, driving in 10 runs for the Bulldogs in a 19-5 victory.
“When we were batting in the cages (before the game), I told my coach I was going to swing for the fences and hit a home run,” said the 5-foot-11, 200-pound Natera.
Oddly enough, they were his first four home runs of the year. And this comes in the era of the composite bat, not the aluminum bat, adding particular heft to this single-game feat.
“I can’t believe it,” Natera told the Journal in a phone interview on Thursday. “It’s crazy. The feeling is amazing.”
The national record for a single game is five, shared by many players.
Inside New Mexico, Brad Davidson of Ruidoso — versus Hot Springs, and believed to have occurred in 1999 — is the only other player confirmed to have belted four homers in a single game, according to the New Mexico Activities Association’s website. But there is no way of knowing for certain if Davidson was the only one, if only because so many schools — across multiple sports — often do not submit top individual achievements to the NMAA. “I’m just super glad that it is (part of the record),” said Natera, who also plays goalkeeper for the Bulldogs’ soccer team. “I couldn’t feel any more excited and proud.”
Natera hit three-run homers in the first and fifth innings, and tworun shots in the third and sixth inning. Each home run was hit off a different Lovington pitcher.
“The funny thing is … I was giving him a hard time that day in BP, telling him that we had to limit his strikeouts,” Artesia coach J.J. Ortiz said. “Then he went out and hit four home runs.”
Natera had a fifth at-bat in this game, a ground out in the second inning.
METROS: There are two Albuquerque Metro Championship events next week.
Golf will be played Monday at Desert Greens Golf Course, where La Cueva’s boys and St. Pius’ girls are defending champions. The 13 public high school in Albuquerque will be joined by Albuquerque Academy, St. Pius, Rio Rancho and Cleveland.
The shotgun start is 8 a.m.
Metro tennis begins Monday at Academy and the Jerry Cline Complex at Louisiana and I-40. The boys will be at Jerry Cline on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, then shift for the final three rounds at Academy. The girls are at Academy the entire week.
The singles and doubles finals are Saturday morning, April 21. Academy’s boys and the girls from Albuquerque High won team titles last year.
SEPULVEDA: Meanwhile, prep track is kicking into high gear in the metro area over the next two weeks.
The annual Marilyn Sepulveda invitational meet for the state’s top athletes — in all classifications — starts at 3 p.m. Monday with field events at the University of New Mexico track stadium.
The running events start at 4:15 p.m. Many, but not all, of the metro area’s top boys and girls will be in attendance.
Later next week is the hugely popular Richard Harper Memorial meet at Academy (with one of the year’s strongest group of teams), with the Albuquerque Metro Championships to follow April 26-27 at Nusenda Community Stadium.