Rams, Storm Lose At State Tourney

“They are underrated, I would say,” Sandia baseball coach John Gunther said Thursday afternoon. “They are a very, very, good team.”

Gunther’s top-seeded Matadors were tested — again — by the Rams in the Class 5A state quarterfinals at Isotopes Park.

Sandia won the game 5-4, and the margin between these two teams was clearly razor thin, just as it was in the regular season when the Rams beat the Matadors 2-1.

And so now, the Rams, who finished 19-11, head into a very important offseason.

“It’s up to them to get better and stronger now,” said Rio Rancho coach Ron Murphy, “that they don’t get complacent.”

The Rams won 19 games with a lineup that featured no seniors and only three juniors.

Rio Rancho spent the past two seasons, in fact, with underclassmen at almost every position. In 2013, the Rams are projected to have four senior starters — shortstop Zak Felix, pitcher/third baseman Brandon Garcia, designated hitter Evan Offutt and first baseman/pitcher Brendan Wanchek.

And, Murphy acknowledged, expectations of his team will change drastically. Which is OK by him.

“I gotta think we’ll be one of the top three to five teams (next year), and that we’ll be there at the end,” he said.

Rio Rancho had the potential tying run at second base in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday with one out, but couldn’t get him in.

“That was one of our best games of the year,” Murphy said. “Our kids played excellent. I still feel like they were one of the best teams in the state this year.”

Rio Rancho, the No. 8 seed, scored the game’s first run, as Wanchek’s ground ball scored Garcia.

The Matadors went up 3-1 in the third, but Rio Rancho rallied with two runs in the fifth.

With two outs, Grant Templin and Offutt had back-to-back RBI singles.

The Matadors pushed ahead 5-3 in the top of the sixth, and the Rams cut the deficit in half in their next at-bat on Vic Chavez’s RBI single.

Between now and next spring, Rio Rancho’s field is getting a makeover. The outfield grass will be replaced by artificial turf, similar to the one at Cleveland.

Rio Rancho has had an awful time trying to maintain the outfield grass at that stadium since the school opened.

Murphy said the work would begin in October or November.

Cleveland

The Storm’s season is also over. Cleveland, the No. 6 seed, was beaten 4-1 on Thursday by third-seeded Carlsbad.

In three games against the Cavemen, Cleveland (19-10) managed three runs.

Left-hander Caleb Prentiss gave up six singles to the Storm, and Brandon Slate hit two home runs for Carlsbad.

“I’m proud of the kids,” Storm coach Shane Shallenberger said. “I thought we had a great season.”

Except when facing Slate, Cleveland’s pitching (starter Adam Burke and Josh Casillas) was outstanding.

Carlsbad had three other hits besides the three from Slate, a junior who carried the Cavemen offense in a first-round sweep of Oñate.

“We did a great job pitching, and we played good defense,” Shallenberger said.

Cleveland had base runners in every inning. James Cleveland had an RBI single in the third.

“We didn’t come up with one timely hit, and that’s hard to do against a team like Carlsbad,” Shallenberger said.

Prentiss, who had beaten Cleveland 2-0 in March at Rio Rancho’s tournament, worked quickly and effectively.

“We just didn’t come through in a couple of key situations, and Prentiss did a good job of not allowing us to come through,” Shallenberger said.

Prentiss struck out only four. All six Cleveland hits were singles.

Unlike Rio Rancho, the Storm will feel the pain of graduation. It is losing a handful of key regulars, including shortstop/pitcher Robert Montoya, outfielder/pitcher Natty Lucero, infielder Matt Villalobos, Cleveland and outfielder Matt Corrales.
— This article appeared on page 12 of the Albuquerque Journal