Tigers baseball team takes a bite out of the Pintos
The Taos Tigers faced off against the Moriarty Pintos for a doubleheader at home on Saturday (April 30), outperforming their opponents in both games to close out the baseball season on a high note.
Through three innings of the first game, Taos held a slim lead, 2-1 over the Pintos. The two runs that were scored in the second inning by the Tigers is all they would need as Jalen Montano was in good form on the mound. His fastball zinged through the air, a cloud of dust formed around the catcher’s glove from the impact of the fastball.
The Moriarty batters either watched the ball cross home plate with the chance of it being called a ball, or they would struggle to make contact on his pitches. Montano gave up only four hits, two of which were hit by sophomore Ele Mackrain, and walked two batters. Montano threw 109 pitches in the ball game.
In the third inning, Anthony Martinez was battling with pitcher Zachary Gallegos. Martinez continually fouled balls to the left, he was hacking away and trying to pull the ball in that direction. Gallegos got the better of him with a strikeout. Gallegos had a fine performance, striking out six and giving up only three runs, but he was out-dueled by Montano. His slow wind up followed by a herky-jerky delivery proved somewhat effective.
Lucas “Big Luke” Montoya was up next, and he grounded the ball to third base. Then Hunter Tafoya kept Gallegos busy with several foul balls and an eye that let pitches outside of the strike zone pass by. Finally Tafoya struck out swinging to end the inning.
In the top of the fifth inning, the infield let Montano down when Martinez bobbled a grounder that came his way. Immediately after, AJ Abeyta set things right with a golden-glove-type play where he slid to his right and used his knee as a pivot to spin around and whip a throw to second base. Montano got out of the inning unscathed.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Montano got on base with a line drive single to left field. A steal and a sacrifice fly advanced Montano to third base, with Martinez lined up at home plate ready to bat. This time around, Martinez got the better of Gallegos as he hit an RBI double in between left field and centerfield. A ground ball from “Big Luke” advanced Martinez to third but he would not come around to score another run in the inning. Tigers won the first game 3-1.
After having to deal with Montano on the mound, the Pintos now had to contend with starting pitcher Michael Cruz in the second game.
Moriarty was able to deal the first blow with an early run in the top of the first inning. This time, the Tiger offense came out in full force, scoring six in the bottom of the first.
The Pintos had to utilize three
pitchers: Micah Rimer, Kenneth Poyner and Bryce Walker. Poyner gave up five runs on seven hits through two and one-third innings. He had the misfortune of having two balks called on him.
The coaching staff for Moriarty was thoroughly displeased with the umpires. The umpires almost called a balk on Rimer as well, but Moriarty protested it by saying that the umpire near the third base side
of the diamond wouldn’t have the angle to make such a call. The call was overturned.
An RBI single by Mateo Chavez forced the final pitching to Walker. After warming up, Walker got a desirable result with a fly ball to center field, but the centerfielder lost the ball in the sun, and Dominic Chacon got on base. A strikeout ended the bottom of the fourth inning. Taos was up 9-4.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Abeyta received a bit of chin music, a pitch too close for comfort near the head, from Walker. He composed himself and drove a single straight through shortstop and second base. Coach Miguel Quintana subbed in a pinch runner for Abeyta. It turned out to be the right call as the next at-bat resulted in a strikeout, but the ball went past the catcher and then the easy throw to first base was overthrown by a wide margin and the pinch runner scored another run for the Tigers.
The game was 12-4 in favor of Taos, and the coaches for Moriarty still groaned about all the bangbang plays that weren’t called their way. In the top of the seventh,