Latham leads St. Mike’s over Robertson

Sean Latham had made a living on the mound this season as a hard-luck loser.

In three previous decisions, the St. Michael’s junior had lost all of them thanks to a lack of run support and reliable defense.

On Tuesday in Las Vegas, N.M., he finally got both to work in his favor. He tossed seven complete innings, giving up one run on seven hits with nine strikeouts in leading the Horsemen to a 6-1 win over Robertson in the District 2-4A opener for both teams.

The only run he allowed came home on a passed ball in the bottom of the second to spot the Cardinals (9-4, 0-1) an early lead. St. Michael’s (8-6, 1-0) tied it an inning later, then took the lead for good in the top of the sixth when Eric Romero and then Latham singled, then advanced on a bunt single by Jude Mondragon to load the bases. Jason Romero drove home the winning run by drawing a walk to make it 2-1.

The Horsemen added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh to put the game away.

Eric Romero wen 2-for-3 with two runs scored, a stolen base and an RBI. Latham and Mondragon each went 1-for-3 while Jason Romero drove home a pair of runs on a sacrifice fly and the bases-loaded walk.

“Sean has pitched beautifully in games for us but we didn’t put it all together for him until [Tuesday],” said Augustin Ruiz, St. Michael’s head coach.

The Horsemen benefited from seven walks issued by Robertson pitchers. St. Michael’s will return to the Meadow City on Saturday for a doubleheader at West Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS ROBERTSON 17, ST. MICHAEL’S 0 (3 INNINGS)

It was not the way the St. Michael’s Lady Horsemen wanted to open District 2-4A play.

Then again, drawing the Las Vegas Robertson Lady Cardinals is not the ideal start to that portion of the season. Robertson rolled to a 17-0 win in three innings in both teams 2-4A opener Tuesday in Las Vegas, N.M.

St. Michael’s got a base hit from eighth-grader Athena Archuleta and an opposite field single from Karissa Baca, but the Lady Horsemen (2-5) struggled to start a rally around those hits.

“We had some nice hits early, but the other couple of balls we did hit, they were right at people,” St. Michael’s head coach Billy Perdue said. “We were just kind of up and down.”

The Lady Horsemen go back to nondistrict play with a game at Santa Fe High on Thursday before taking on West Las Vegas in a 2-4A doubleheader in Las Vegas.

The Lady Cardinals improved to 6-4 overall.