It was a feel-good weekend for the Española Valley High School baseball team.
Sophomore pitcher Joaquin Schoepner starred in the first game of the Sundevils’ home double-header against Taos April 3, striking out seven as part of a no-hit performance.
Schoepner has been nursing a sore elbow this season, but you wouldn’t have guessed it from his performance.
“It looks like we’re really putting things together,” Española head coach Anthony Alarid said. “Joaquin was strong, and he had good control. He finished with 54 pitches in five innings. Any time you can do that, it’s a good sign.”
The game ended on a three-run, walk-off homer by junior center fielder Ryan Gonzales in the bottom of the fifth inning to put Española up 11-0, just edging the Sundevils over the 10-run rule.
“That felt good,” Gonzales said. “But really we were all hitting the ball good and getting on base today.”
Gonzales himself took the mound in the second game, striking out five and holding Taos to one hit in three innings pitched.
Española’s offense took advantage of Taos’ wild pitches and errors to jump out to a 6-1 lead after three innings. The Sundevils broke the game open in the bottom of the fourth and cycled through their batting lineup two and half times. Junior left fielder Ryan Fresquez led the onslaught with four RBIs in that inning, two of which came on a triple into right-center field. Sophomore catcher Corey Atencio knocked in three runs of his own, and six other players added at least one RBI during the rally.
Atencio aggravated a wrist injury March 27 against Belen High School but hung tough against Taos, taking a beanball to the back while at bat and an elbow to the chest while successfully defending home plate against a Taos base-runner.
“I think our sticks are starting to come around good, and we were able to pick up our defense,” Fresquez said. “And I think today we showed we’ve got a good second team coming through when we need to sub players out.”
As a further test of the Sundevils’ depth, Alarid put senior pitcher Ryan Martinez on the mound to relieve Gonzales. Martinez gave up two runs but struck out two to close out the Sundevils’ 19-3 five-inning victory.
“We were just looking to get (Martinez) some experience,” Alarid said. “That should really help us down the stretch in the District.”
Taos head coach Marcus Montoya credited all of Española’s pitchers for keeping his hitters off-balance.
“Española hit well and pitched well, but it wouldn’t have taken that to beat us today,” Montoya said. “That was about as bad a showing on our part as I’ve witnessed.”
While Montoya said the two losses put Taos in a must-win situation for the rest of the season, Española is riding high with a 3-0 record in District 2AAAA play.
“This early in the season, we’ve got a good start in the District,” Alarid said. “Taos, right now, they’re playing with some injuries on their squad, and we had to take advantage of that.”
The two lopsided wins also helped build momentum going into a home game against Santa Fe High School Wednesday (4/7) and a double-header on the road against Los Alamos High School Saturday.
“This definitely gives us some confidence, especially going against Los Alamos,” Gonzales said.