Cavemen Win Easily Over Top-Seeded Sandia in Final

Shane Andrews. Cody Ross. And now Brandon Slate.

The list of baseball legends at Carlsbad High School has officially grown by one — in this case, one very animated character.

And southern New Mexico’s most storied baseball town just gained another championship.

The Cavemen on Saturday night won their first Class 5A title since 2002. Behind the thunderous bat of Slate — who was this tournament’s most impressive, most dangerous and most valuable player — third-seeded Carlsbad beat No. 1 Sandia 9-3 before a crowd of about 2,500 fans at Isotopes Park.

“They jumped on us early, but we didn’t worry at all,” said Cavemen senior shortstop Jered Meek, who has signed to play for New Mexico. “We knew our sticks would come around.”

Carlsbad (24-5) scored nine unanswered runs after Sandia got an RBI single from Garrett McKenney in the top of the first inning.

And as has been the case often in this postseason, everything centered around Slate.

Slate, a junior third baseman nicknamed “Stewie” after a cartoon character, destroyed opponents’ pitching in this postseason. He had eight extra-base hits in five playoff games. He clubbed four home runs (including three this week) and had four doubles.

“I’m just glad I peaked at the right time, at the state tournament,” said Slate.

On Saturday night, Slate once again had the decisive blow in a game that was close for a while but evolved into a blowout.

In the third, Zach Hinojos singled to left with two outs against Sandia starter Greg Smith. Slate followed and crushed a Smith fastball over the left-field fence for a 2-1 lead.

“Kid swings a stick well,” Meek said of Slate. “Flat-out stud.”

After an error, Devin Groves doubled to left, scoring Caleb Vannatter, who just beat a relay throw home from Sandia shortstop David Gunther. That made it 3-1.

And for Carlsbad starter Caleb Prentiss (11-0), a two-run lead was plenty.

He was pitching on very short rest — he went the distance in the Cavemen’s quarterfinal win Thursday over Cleveland — but gave Carlsbad five solid innings on a chilly night.

Carlsbad coach Cody May said he didn’t decide until 4 p.m. Saturday to go with Prentiss. He originally was going to start Dev’n Ortiz, who pitched the final two innings Saturday.

Carlsbad’s 10-year gap between championships is rather prolonged, at least by this program’s standards. Players like Andrews and Ross — who both reached the Major Leagues — were instrumental in this program maintaining such high integrity and excellence over the last quarter-century.

For May, it is his first title, in his first season. He was coaching Carlsbad’s boys basketball team last season before taking over for the fired Kenny Groves. May, a former head coach at Floyd, resigned as basketball coach last April to throw his name into the hat for the baseball job.

Devin Groves is Kenny’s son; he drove in two runs Saturday night, adding another two-out RBI hit in the fifth as Carlsbad took a commanding 7-1 lead.

Sandia (23-6) had been in one tough scrape after another in this postseason — including a late, come-from-behind victory in Friday’s semifinals against Volcano Vista — but the Matadors’ luck ran out Saturday.

Sandia coach John Gunther declined to comment after the game.

Sandia was in the title game for the first time since 1980. The Matadors were the Albuquerque metro champions and unseated La Cueva as the District 2-5A champ.

La Cueva or Rio Rancho had won every 5A state championship since Carlsbad’s win in 2002. The Bears had won seven of the last nine championships, the Rams the other two.

— This article appeared on page D1 of the Albuquerque Journal