Rio Rancho, Cleveland Get Work in Tournaments

It’s the time of year when the Rio Rancho High School baseball team goes tournament hopping.

From last week (Farmington) to this week (Las Cruces) to next week (the Rams’ annual home event), Rio Rancho is following a traditional early-season schedule.

Last weekend, the Rams (7-2) won the Farmington Invitational.

They beat Uintah, Utah, 11-1, downed Artesia 6-2 in the semifinals, and defeated Durango (Colo.) 5-1 in the championship game.

Rio Rancho coach Ron Murphy praised the offensive work of Brandon Garcia, Evan Offutt and Zak Felix during the three-day event at Ricketts Park.

Garcia and Offutt made the all-tournament team, but Murphy said Felix “was our best all-around player in this tournament. He had clutch hits all three games.”

Easton Bruere pitched all five innings against Uintah, and never once reached three balls to a batter, Murphy said.

Artesia was an eight-inning affair. Felix and Eli Cappello turned a crucial double play in the bottom of the seventh when the Bulldogs had the bases loaded, and that forced the extra inning.

In the top of the eighth, Felix’s RBI double put the Rams ahead to stay.

Garcia pitched six innings against Artesia. Cappello threw the final two to earn the victory.

Sophomore Grant Templin got the start against Durango, and gave the Rams 5â…” innings. Brendan Wanchek went the final 1â…” innings.

On Tuesday, Rio Rancho blasted Santa Fe 16-0 in five innings. The Rams had 16 hits.

Including a 6-0 win over Valencia on March 1, Rio Rancho has given up only four runs in its last five games.

“The defense has played extremely well,” Murphy said, “and our pitching has done extremely well. We’ve only walked four or five batters in the last five or six games.”

Rio Rancho is at the Las Cruces tournament today through Saturday.

The Rams open with Gadsden at 4 p.m. They’ll face Mayfield or Doherty, Colo., on Friday. Hobbs, Las Cruces, Oñate and Deming round out the field.

Rio Rancho’s own tournament begins a week from today.

Cleveland

The Storm (4-3) are at Piedra Vista’s tournament beginning today. Cleveland faces Valencia at 11:30 a.m.

The Storm won two games last week. It beat Los Lunas 10-0 as Adam Burke gave up just four hits over six innings in a complete game.

Robert Montoya was 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and Matt Villalobos had two doubles and two RBIs.

Cleveland also downed Valencia 8-4. Montoya pitched a complete game and didn’t allow an earned run. Five Storm errors in the third inning led to all of the Jaguars’ runs.

Montoya finished with 11 strikeouts and no walks.

The previous week, Cleveland was at the Artesia tournament.

The Storm stomped Roswell High 16-1 in the opener. Montoya was 3-for-4 with two RBIs, and Villalobos drove in five with a double and triple. Burke threw five innings to get the win.

In the semifinals, Carlsbad beat Cleveland 4-2. The Storm had trouble getting runners across; it left the bases loaded three times in the first five innings.

“We never could get a big hit,” coach Shane Shallenberger said.

In the third-place game, Artesia pounded Cleveland 14-4.

The Storm committed five errors and gave up 10 unearned runs in the third inning alone.

Cleveland will also be at Rio Rancho’s tournament next week.