After losing the opening game of their best-of-three series against Lovington May 8, the Pojoaque Elks were down in the second game May 9 and six outs away from the end of their season.
Trailing Lovington 10-5 in the sixth inning, a loss would eliminate Pojoaque from the Class AAA state tournament.
That’s when the Elks decided they wanted to keep playing.
“It hit us that this might be our last game,” senior Daniel War said.
Jonathan Jiron led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk and Aaron Mondragon followed with a double. Andrew Martinez singled to score a run and catcher Josh Ortiz cracked a two-run homer. Chris Ortiz followed with a single and Matt Longacre, who had had a home run in the fifth inning, smacked his second round-tripper to give Pojoaque an 11-10 lead.
Pojoaque stayed alive with a one-run victory.
“I really didn’t have to tell them anything,” Pojoaque coach Anthony Garcia said. “We hit the ball well when we needed to.”
In the decisive third game, Lovington led 3-0 in the first inning. Pojoaque’s Josh Fresquez answered with a two-run homer. The Wildcats added a run in the second inning for a 4-2 lead.
Pojoaque scored five runs in the second inning, highlighted by a three-run homer by designated hitter Michael Garcia.
A pair of Pojoaque errors helped the Wildcats tie the score in the top of the third inning. When the Elks headed back to the dugout, Michael Garcia told the team they couldn’t keep letting Lovington back in the game.
The Elks heeded the call and scored four runs to take a 11-7 lead. Pojoaque’s defense turned a double play in the top of the fourth inning and held Lovington scoreless in the fifth to protect the lead.
“We’ve been telling them that they needed to recover from their mistakes, and they did,” Anthony Garcia said.
Pojoaque scored three more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to lead 14-8 going into the final inning. The Elks celebrated when centerfielder Chris Ortiz corralled a fly ball for the final out.
The Elks will face Bloomfield Thursday (5/14) in Albuquerque for the state quarterfinals. Garcia said his team is capable of winning it all.
“It was do or die all day (against Lovington) and they took care of business,” Anthony Garcia said. “I think we can do it if the right team shows up.”
The Elks now advance to the quarterfinals of the Class AAA state baseball tournament. They’ll face Bloomfield Thursday (5/14) in Albuquerque.