Taos Tigers baseball back on the diamond
On Monday (March 21) vs Sheridan
After eight consecutive away games, the Tigers (4-5) got to play in front of a home crowd for the first time this season Monday (March 21). Fans in attendance were treated to harsh, bitter winds. Many could be seen wearing blankets in the bleachers. To make up for the weather, the Tigers put on a batting display.
Sheridan Rams starting pitcher Christopher Cordova got two quick outs in the first inning, but then had a shaky ending to the inning. He started walking batters and throwing errant pitches past the catcher. Still, the Tigers left two runners stranded, as the Rams held a 1-0 lead.
AJ Abeyta gave up two more runs in the top of second inning giving the Rams a 3-0 lead.
The Taos Tigers offer encouragement to their teammates during their first home game on Monday (March 21) against the Sheridan Rams. Taos won 15–5.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Tigers had runners in a scoring position once again. This time, the Tigers punished the Rams with a couple of RBI singles. First, Jalen Montano hit an ideal single (a ball that creeps through the reach of both the shortstop and second basemen into the path of the centerfielder), which brought in multiple runs. Then Anthony Martinez belted a line drive past the third basemen, giving the Tigers a 5-3 lead.
The inning ended on a Pete Rose-type play — the one where Rose barrels over catcher Ray Fosse who’s blocking the plate so Rose doesn’t score in the 1970s All Star game. Lucas Montoya, aka “Big Luke,” was rounding third off of a Tigers base hit, and Rams catcher Jorge Suarez was blocking the plate. With nowhere to slide, Montoya’s only recourse was to bulldoze Suarez, who still managed to hold onto the ball and secure the out.
The Rams were threatening to take back the lead in the top of the third inning, when Abeyta hit a couple of batters. Coach Miguel Quintana made a call to the bullpen. Montano came in to relief pitch with two runners on base and zero outs. He pitched well, giving up only one run off of a sacrifice fly.
The Tigers kept batting run after run.
In the fourth inning, Cruz drove a ball that hugged the first base line all the way to the corner of the right outfield. He had the speed and the cardio to round all the bases for an inside-the-park home run.
Montoya got hold of a ball that looked like it was on its way past the fences but dropped right before it for a walking double.
After throwing 79 pitches and giving up 10 runs, the Rams made a pitching change in the bottom of the fifth.
It made no difference, as the Tigers continued to see the ball well and drive in more runs. The
game ended in the bottom of the sixth when another run forced a mercy rule. The Tigers won 15-5.
Coach Quintana talked to the Taos News in a post game interview. He talked about getting victory at home, and why the Sheridan Rams coach was upset over the Tigers lack of sliding into second base.
“It feels good to get a home game. Yeah. And it’s always good to get a W. We struggled at home last year a little bit and this year we’re planning on trying to get used to playing at home. The guys play better on the road though.”
“So one of our kids didn’t slide [in double play situations a runner either has to peel off or make a legal slide into second]. We need to do a better job at sliding. Honestly, I feel him. We’ve got to work on sliding. [Quintana jokes] It’s hard to work on sliding when your fields that hard huh.”
On Saturday evening (March 19) vs Española Valley
The Tigers offense came alive in the third-place match of the tourney against the Sundevils. Taos outscored Española 12-7. Most of the Tigers’ runs came in the second and third innings, where they scored five and six runs, respectively.
Hunter Tafoya got his second win of the season (2-0), pitching in relief of Anthony Martinez.
The 12 runs on Saturday would act as a portent for the Tigers’ matchup at home against Sheridan.
On Saturday noon vs Hope Christian
Michael Cruz took the mound for the Tigers and Joe Marek took the mound for the Huskies for
Taos’ first game of the day at the Santa Fe Indian Tourney on Saturday.
The game took the form of a classic pitchers duel through four innings, and the two pitchers achieved their goals in different ways.
Cruz was efficient with his pitch count. He hovered around 10 pitches per inning. In the first inning, he forced a pop fly to right field and center field. Throughout
the game, batters fouled his pitches straight back, as they were consistently way underneath the ball. Cruz struck out Jordan Baca to end the first inning.
Cruz started the second inning with a strikeout, then forced a grounder to first, and then a pop fly. In the third inning, he continued his efficient game, but started getting more comfortable throwing curveballs early in the count. He struck out two out of the three
batters. In the fourth inning, he managed to escape trouble after walking another.
Marek was slinging heat. The Tigers were caught looking at a lot of his pitches as they flew across home plate. The trouble for Marek was finding the strike zone and being too aggressive on his pickoffs. He would walk batters to first, and then he’d try to pick them off, but the ball would sail far away from the first baseman.
In each inning, the Tigers would find themselves in the favorable position of having runners on either second or third base — just needing a ground ball deep to short, or a fly ball deep into the outfield — to bring in a run. Each time, Marek would bail himself out of the trouble he got himself into with a fastball down the middle of the plate for a strikeout; Marek finished the day with 10.
In the fifth inning, fielding errors from the Tigers put Hope Christian in position to score. Then the Huskies batted in two runs to end the scoring drought.
In the sixth inning, the Hope Christian batters adjusted to Cruz and smacked in a couple of triples to extend their lead 5-1, forcing a pitching change for the Tigers. The Huskies would end up winning by that score.
After the game, the Hope Christian Huskies celebrated with a parking lot barbecue while the Tigers had a pep talk inside their school bus.
On Friday (March 18) vs Capital
Before Friday (March 18), the Taos Tigers were on the wrong side of close games decided by two runs or fewer: against Aztec 9-11; against Rangeview 7-9; and against St. Michael’s 4-5.
The Tigers were able to start the Santa Fe Indian Tourney on a positive note as they used late game heroics to beat the Capital Jaguars 6-5. Taos led 2-0 after the first inning, but then Capital tied the game in the top of the second inning. Taos regained the lead shortly after by scoring a run in the bottom of the second inning.
The score was 3-2 in favor of Taos, to start the top of the sixth inning. The Jaguars batted in three runs to give them a 5-3 lead, with a chance to close out the Tigers in the bottom of the sixth inning. Needing two to tie and send it to extra innings, the Tigers scored three runs to win the ball game.
What’s next
The Tigers are set to play their next game today (March 24) at 2 p.m. against Robertson.
From left: Taos Tigers fans cheer for their home team during a game against the Sheridan Rams on Monday (March 21). Taos’ Jeramiah Gonzales celebrates as he reaches home plate.