Bears rout Eagles for 2-5A title

La Cueva gunning for No.1 state seed

The La Cueva Bears derived a certain pleasure from clinching the District 2-5A baseball championship on the diamond of their biggest rival, but the view from the home clubhouse at Eldorado High was less rosy.

“It’s hard to call it a rivalry,” Eldorado coach Jim Johns said, “when the same team wins all the time.”

The Bears completed a season sweep of the Eagles with a 12-2 rout Wednesday, and in the process secured the 2-5A title. La Cueva (16-6, 6-1 in 2-5A) could also possibly be the No. 1 seed for the Class 5A state tournament come Sunday’s announcement of the playoff field.

“We might have an argument for No. 1,” La Cueva coach Gerard Pineda said.

Which, frankly, is an outcome few could have foreseen in February, not with a roster that had so much turnover — with third baseman Jeff Deimling the only returning starter.

“I really thought this was what this team was capable of,” Pineda said. “(But) with our lack of varsity experience, nobody knew anybody.”

He wasn’t exaggerating. La Cueva’s pitching staff started the season with exactly two innings of varsity time between them, and the Bears returned just over 100 varsity at-bats — most of them Deimling’s.

But after a doubleheader sweep of Sandia last weekend, the tide turned La Cueva’s way, creating this chance to take the district before the regular-season finale Saturday, two games against Manzano.

“This is a great feeling,” said Deimling, who homered and doubled Wednesday. “We didn’t get it (a district title) last year with all the seniors we had.”

La Cueva has won 14 of its last 16 games against Eldorado, and the last three were unusually one-sided.

The Bears won 14-4, 13-3 and 12-2 in three league games.

They put up seven runs in the top of the first Wednesday — most of them unearned, as Eagles’ third baseman Alex Brown kicked a couple of routine ground balls.

Austin Bell had a two-run single in the second, Alek Gallegos a two-RBI single in the second and the Bears never sweated the outcome.

Sandia blasted Manzano 11-0 on Wednesday, setting up a showdown Saturday between the Matadors and Eldorado (1111, 4-3) for second place in 2-5A. Sandia is also 4-3 in district.

Rest of 5A

Carlsbad — the only other team in the discussion to be a No. 1 seed in 5A — has already clinched District 4-5A over Hobbs. Atrisco Heritage pretty much locked up 5-5A last week against Rio Grande, but officially clinched Tuesday, routing Highland.

Volcano Vista is the 1-5A champ, and Las Cruces will be the 3-5A champion.