RR Coach Murphy Goes for 400

No. 400, perhaps as a blessing in disguise, did not come while Ron Murphy was on the road.

The longtime Rio Rancho High baseball coach sits at 399 career wins after a third-place showing in last week’s Las Cruces tournament.

This morning at 8:30, he should get No. 400 as the Rams (9-3) host Santa Fe in the first round of the Sal Puentes Invitational.

Rio Rancho battered the Demons 16-0 earlier this month.

In Las Cruces, Brandon Garcia and Marcus Martinez both hit home runs in a 13-8 win over Gadsden in the tournament opener. Garcia’s three-run shot gave the Rams, who were leading by one run, some cushion.

Mayfield stomped Rio Rancho 11-2 in the semifinals.

“We forgot to show up,” Murphy said. “It was probably our first off game all year.”

The Rams downed Oñate 6-2 in the third-place game. Vic Chavez’s RBI single in the fifth tied the game 2-2, and Garcia’s RBI single in the sixth put Rio Rancho in front 3-2. It was part of a four-run inning for the Rams. Garcia was the only Ram to make the all-tournament team.

Cleveland

The Storm finished third at the Piedra Vista tournament in Farmington last weekend.

Josh Casillas had a strong pitching outing in the opener, a 10-0 win over Valencia. Matt Villalobos drove in three runs.

The host Panthers beat the Storm 10-4 in the semifinals. Piedra Vista scored eight runs in the bottom of the sixth to erase a 4-2 deficit. Cleveland’s defense committed four errors in that single at-bat. The Storm outhit the Panthers 11-6.

Cleveland downed Durango, Colo., 14-4, for third place. Villalobos drove in a pair of runs with two doubles, and James Cleveland and Natty Lucero each had three-hit games for the Storm (6-4).

Adam Burke had a complete-game five-hitter.

Puentes Invite

Rio Rancho-Santa Fe is the first of four quarterfinals today. Cleveland takes on Carlsbad at 11 a.m., as the Storm try to avenge a recent loss to the Cavemen at the Artesia tournament.

Goddard meets St. Pius at 1:30 p.m., and West Mesa faces Artesia at 4 p.m.

The Rio Rancho-Santa Fe winner meets West Mesa or Artesia on Friday at 1:30 p.m. in the first semifinal. The other semifinal is 4 p.m. Friday.

Saturday’s championship game is set for 1 p.m.

Bernalillo

Atrisco Heritage beat the Spartans 3-2 in nine innings on a cold Tuesday afternoon in Bernalillo. The Spartans have played well this season but dropped to 2-7 in a matchup of 4A playoff teams.

“I think they were a little bit more focused than we were,” Bernalillo coach Dominic Toledo said. “Our pitchers did a good job throwing a lot of strikes. They kept us in it.”

The Spartans had been held in check for almost the entire game by Jaguars starter Angelo Escarcega, who tossed six shutout innings before finally running into trouble in the seventh. Bernalillo, trailing 2-0, loaded the bases with two outs. Thomas Duran made Escarcega pay, lining a two-run single into right-center to tie the game and force extra innings.

“We’ve got to try and get better at moving runners over and base running,” Toledo said. “Those little things we could do could have made a huge difference in this game.”

Bernalillo opens District 2-4A play at home versus Los Alamos on Saturday at 11 a.m.