The Pojoaque Elks baseball has finished the regular season on a high note.
The Elks swept the West Las Vegas Dons 6-2, 5-2 May 1 at home to secure second place in District 2AAA with a 9-6 district record. The victories were part of a seven-game winning streak that have propelled the Elks above .500 after falling to 2-6 in district play and 5-11 overall April 24.
Pojoaque has swept three consecutive doubleheaders, including April 27 against Santa Fe Indian School and April 29 against Raton.
“We started bonding more as a team,” Pojoaque pitcher and center fielder Mike Garcia said. “We weren’t a team before.”
The Elks have been rewarded for their resurgence with the eighth seed in the 16-team field of the Class AAA state baseball tournament. Pojoaque will host ninth-seeded Hope Christian Saturday at home.
“I feel a lot better now then I did a month ago,” Pojoaque coach Anthony Garcia, Mike Garcia’s father, said. “A little bit of chemistry (is the difference). Last couple of weeks the kids started going out to dinner together, and we got a lot of people into the right position.”
Senior Chris Ortiz was the winning pitcher against the Dons in the second game, while Garcia came on in relief in the final two innings to secure the win.
“The mental part of the game was what we were needing to overcome,” Ortiz said. “Before, if we made an error or struck out, we’d put our heads down. Now we shake it off and just learn from that.”
The Elks took an early lead in both games of the doubleheader against the Dons. In the first game, Fernando Zavala scored on a passed ball to give the Elks a 1-0 lead. Pojoaque added three runs in the third with two outs. Josh Ortiz, Chris’ younger brother, stroked a two-run single and the pair’s youngest brother, Robert Ortiz, drove in Josh with a double. After the Dons scored a run in the fourth inning, Pojoaque added two runs in the bottom of the inning on a single by Fabian Rojo and a double by Andrew Martinez.
In the second game, Pojoaque took a two-run lead in the first inning and added three runs to go up 5-0 in the third inning. Chris Ortiz helped his cause with a two-run single in the third inning. The Dons scored a run in the sixth inning and a run in the seventh inning, but Pojoaque held on for a 5-2 victory.
“The key is to be playing your best ball right now,” Anthony Garcia said. “That’s what it looks like we’re doing.”
The Elks swept a doubleheader from Hope Christian 6-2, 14-12 April 10 in Pojoaque, The winner of Saturday’s game will advance to the quarterfinals to be held May 13 in Albuquerque.
“Everybody’s starting at 0-0,” Garcia said. “This team can beat anybody and any team can beat us.”