The Española Valley Sundevils finished fourth March 21 at the St. Michaels Invitational after losing to defending Class AAA state champion, Cobre, 14-3 in the third-place game.
The Sundevils nearly advanced to the championship game, but lost a heat-breaker to the host team 11-10 the previous day.
“We’re improving with every game,” Española coach Anthony Alarid said. “I’m looking forward to being very competitive in our district.”
The Sundevils had a chance to watch two of their district rivals at the tournament, although the Sundevils didn’t face either Taos or Bernalillo. Taos finished eighth at the tournament, while Bernalillo won the tournament title by defeating St. Michaels 6-1.
Bernalillo is the defending District 2AAAA champion.
“Bernalillo looks tough,” Alarid said.
Española opened the tournament by defeating McCurdy School 11-4 March 19 behind a strong effort by pitcher Sean Salazar. Salazar held the Bobcats to four hits, and Ricky Gonzales and Mark Vigil had home runs for Española.
Salazar also started against St. Michaels.
The Sundevils jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the top of the first inning against St. Michaels. Ryan Fresquez led off with a single, the next batter drew a walk and Salazar helped himself with a double off the wall. St. Michaels starting pitcher Dakota Benavidez then walked four of the next five batters before being relieved by Josh Garcia.
Garcia hit the first batter he faced, then yielded a two-run single to Fresquez. After another walk, Salazar stroked his second hit of the inning, scoring Fresquez, but the Sundevils ran themselves out of the inning. Salazar was thrown out at second and Byron Abeyta was thrown out at home for the third out,
Salazar couldn’t protect the lead in the bottom of the first. Jordan Romero and Justin Garcia led off with back-to-back doubles for St. Michaels and Salazar walked the next three batters.
Flores came on in relief. The Horsemen added two more runs on a groundout and a single by Benavidez. Española led 9-5 after one inning.
St. Michaels scored four runs in the bottom of the second inning to tie the game.
After a scoreless third inning, the Sundevils took a 10-9 lead when center fielder Gonzales cracked his second home run of the tournament over the left field fence.
“He’s been hammering it,” Alarid said. “He’s seeing the ball really well.”
In the fifth and final inning, the Sundevils went down in order to bring up the Horsemen, who trailed 10-9 and were down to their last three outs.
Michael Yardman-Frank led off with a walk. He stole second and after the throw to second went into the outfield, was safe on a close play at third. After a another walk, he scored on a sacrifice fly to tie the game..
The runner at first stole second, but Flores fanned the next batter for the second out. That brought Romero to the plate, a dangerous batter who had already stroked a pair of doubles in the game.
Romero laced a single to right to scored Elijah Garcia from second and give the Horsemen the victory.
In the third-place game against Cobre, the Sundevils were held to four hits by Indians starter Chris Martinez. Cobre scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning, but Española had closed to within 4-3 in the third inning before the Indians rallied for 10 more runs. Sophomore left-hander Mario Archuleta took the loss for Española.
The Sundevils fell to 3-7 on the season. The team is back at full strength now that the basketball season has ended.
Third baseman Daniel Archuleta and pitcher James Flores, both members of the basketball team, joined the baseball squad in mid-March after missing the first six games of the season.
Last season, the Sundevils were 11-12 overall and finished fourth in District 2AAAA with a 5-7 record. Española has never won a district baseball title, but Alarid thinks they can win it this year.
“We’re still making defensive mistakes that we’ll need to eliminate before district starts,” Alarid said. “I think we have a shot.”