Amid spring snow, Horsemen fall to Las Vegas Robertson
On an afternoon where the real story was Old Man Winter’s attempt at a springtime haymaker, St. Michael’s and Robertson got together for a baseball game in conditions more suitable for football.
First pitch came at 3 p.m. under threatening skies, a steady wind and temperatures hovering in the low 40s. By game’s end the light snow that had been peppering the players on and off the entire time turned into a decent dusting that blew in from right field and covered the field in a milky film of flakes.
“I don’t really like throwing in this but, honestly, once the game starts, I don’t even notice,” said Robertson pitcher Brandon Lucero.
It was Lucero’s right arm that carried the visiting Cardinals to a 7-3 victory in the District 2-4A opener for both teams. It was Lucero’s offense, coupled with the St. Mike’s defense, that did plenty of damage, too.
The Horsemen (7-7, 0-1) committed two costly errors, and the Cardinals (11-1, 1-0) strung together four hits and a pair of walks in a seven-run fifth inning against St. Michael’s starting pitcher Jude Mondragon. It was the only frame in which he faced more than the minimum three batters.
The Cards sent a dozen batters to the plate in the fifth, erasing a 2-0 deficit and getting an early leg up in the district race.
“Jude threw a pretty good game,” said St. Michael’s head coach Augie Ruiz. “Take that one inning out and he probably gets us the win, but that one inning — not Robertson pitching, St. Michael’s errors decisive in district opener
a lot went right.”
The Horsemen broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth when Derek Roybal’s leadoff triple was followed by an RBI double by Sean Latham. Latham moments later when Raul Lopez’s infield single brought him home from third.
“We’ve been down before and I know these guys, the way they hit, we were going to be OK,” Lucero said.
The decisive rally started when Isaiah Baca, who himself ignited the St. Michael’s rally by misplaying the line drive by Roybal that led to his triple, bounced a double off the wall in left-center for just the second hit off Mondragon. Baca scored a minute or two later on an infield error, a miscue that led to the second run to also come home on a two-run RBI single by No. 9 hitter Isaiah Ortiz.
That Ortiz at-bat punctuated the inning. Facing a 1-2 count after whiffing on a bunt attempt with one strike, he blooped a pitch off his thumbs just a foot inside the right field line about 50 feet beyond the first base bag. It brought the tying- and goahead runs in and paved the way for four more runs before the frame was over.
“Sometimes you only get one or two chances a game and that was ours,” said Robertson head coach Rick Armijo. “You have to take advantage of them when you can and with the way we hit the ball, I knew we would be OK.”
Lucero went the distance, pitching seven strong innings while allowing eight runs with nine strikeouts and two walks.
“In my opinion he’s one of the best pitchers in the state,” Armijo said.
He’s also the top pitcher on the No. 1 team in 4A, according to the latest MaxPreps.com power rankings. Now winners of seven straight and heading home for their next three 2-4A matchups, the Cardinals are just now starting to get people’s attention.
“If we’re not, then maybe people should start thinking of us that way,” Lucero said. “This is a good team and we all know it. It’s time everyone else does, too.”
GAME NOTES
Mondragon went six innings, throwing just 78 pitches in that time. He threw about 40 percent of those in the fifth inning, a top half that dragged on for about 25 minutes. … The only Cardinal with more than one hit was Baca, the cleanup hitter. He finished 2-for-2 with a double and run scored, walking in his third plate appearance. He had the only hit against Mondragon through the first four innings but was erased on a double play on a flyout to right in which he drifted too far off the bag and was thrown out. … Seven of the nine starters in the Horsemen lineup had at least one hit. Roybal was 2-for-4 with a double, triple and run scored out of the No. 3 hole. … St. Michael’s stranded seven runners, four of them in scoring position. … The Horsemen head to West Las Vegas for a doubleheader Saturday. Ruiz said Sean Latham will get the start in Game 1 against the Dons. … Robertson has won seven straight games, the longest active streak in Class 4A. The Cardinals and Bernalillo (11-4) are currently tied for the most wins in 4A.