’Toppers close out season on a winning note
Los Alamos beats Capital in 5 innings
Sure, Capital may be struggling. And, yes, the Los Alamos Hilltoppers already did wrap up their fifth-straight District 2-4A title this past weekend with a doubleheader sweep over Española Valley.
But if you think the ’Toppers are merely cruising into the postseason, beginning with Wednesday’s regular-season finale against the Jaguars, think again.
“Traditionally, we’ve struggled in these last games of the season — and again, we’re coming off an emotional weekend,” Los Alamos coach Mike Gill said. “So today, we wanted to make sure the kids came in here ready to put work in. And they did a good job.”
Connor Mang, in his first start in more than a month, tossed a one-hitter through four innings, while the ’Topper offense racked up 16 hits en route to a 15-2 victory over the winless Jaguars in five innings. It was Los Alamos’ 10th-straight victory.
But now, the wait begins.
“Baseball, you don’t want a break,” said Gill, whose squad is off until the start of the state tournament May 10. “It’s a long time off. It happened to us last year, but no excuses. We just have to do what we have to do.”
For Mang, what he wanted to do in his final start before the postseason was simple: “Throw strikes,” he said.
And the freshman righthander — who said he was working on some control issues — did just that, fanning nine Jaguar batters.
“Me and Lane (Saunders) have been struggling a bit finding the zone, so it was good to get out there and get a few innings in,” Mang said.
Saunders, who pitched in relief of Mang in a nonsave situation, allowed a walk before recording the final three outs.
Capital’s Jordan Burks broke up Mang’s no-hitter in the third inning with an RBI double. He later scored on an error.
“I just left (the pitch) flat, right down the middle and he did his job — he hit it hard,” Mang said. “After that, I just tried to relax and focus on filling up the zone. But we were leading 8-2 at the time, so it was pretty easy to settle down.”
Los Alamos scored four runs in the first inning, four more in the third, five in the fourth and two in the fifth to improve to 17-9 overall and 11-1 in district.
Eight of nine starters recorded a hit, led by Collin Kitts, who went 2-for-2, with a triple, two RBIs and two runs scored.
“We’re not going to see live pitching for a while, so we came here ready to play,” Kitts said. “We’re still going to hit in the cage and we’ll practice next week, but playing in a game — no matter who you play — is totally different.
“In practice, you’re relaxed. But in games, you can tend to tense up. So we really needed this to get ready for state.”
When Gill was asked where he expects to be seeded in the state tourney this Sunday, he smiled.
“I’ll leave that up to them,” he said. “If we play at home (in the first round), we play at home — and if we don’t, we don’t.
“... Part of the fun of going to state sometimes is going on the road. So, whatever. Wherever we land, we land.”