5A teams gobble up 4A challengers on first day of Sal Puentes tournament

RIO RANCHO – The bracket at the Sal Puentes baseball tournament at Rio Rancho was set up to pair some of the state’s best Class 4A programs against some of the best from 5A.

The 5A group had their collective way on Thursday in the first round of the annual event.

La Cueva beat Goddard, Cleveland blanked Artesia, Rio Rancho scored late and often to mercy rule Albuquerque Academy, and Carlsbad knocked off St. Pius in Thursday’s games.

The four 5A teams won by a combined score of 52-10.

The Friday semifinals pit the Rio Rancho schools against one another at 3 p.m. in a rematch of their metro final from last weekend, and then La Cueva facing Carlsbad at 5:30 p.m.

The final is 3 p.m. Saturday.

The featured team was No. 1-ranked Cleveland (14-0), which beat defending 4A state champion Artesia 10-0 in five innings.

Senior left-hander Jacob Vasquez, maybe the hottest pitcher in the state, tossed a no-hitter for the Storm, the second consecutive game in which Cleveland pitched a no hitter, following Treven Polanco’s 7-inning no-no versus Rio Rancho in the metro final last Saturday.

Vasquez pitched a shutout for the second straight outing; he struck out 15 last Friday in an 8-0 metro semifinal win over Sandia.

On Thursday, Vasquez struck out six and walked five in his complete game.

And this was arguably not the most interesting thing to happen in this matchup.

On the first pitch of the game, Storm slugger Anthony Del Angel (Oklahoma signee) took Artesia starter Jack Byers (Arizona signee) deep for a solo home run.

It was one of those days at Rio Rancho High, with a healthy breeze/slash wind blowing straight out to left, and there were any number of players who took advantage of those weather conditions Thursday.

Caleb Sandoval was 3-for-3 with a double and three RBIs for the Storm. Peyton Noel added two hits and two RBIs, including a triple.

Cleveland defeated Rio Rancho 7-0 last Saturday. The Storm is working on three straight shutouts, and its pitchers have thrown 19 consecutive shutout innings.

The Rams were a bit of a slow starter Thursday, but Rio Rancho (12-2) scored six runs in the fifth inning and then plated five more in the sixth in a 14-4 victory over Academy. The Chargers had the first four runs in the game, in the first inning.

Jacob Lucero pitched four scoreless innings for the Rams, striking out eight.

Brayden Bustillos homered and drove in four runs for Rio Rancho. D’anjoelo Aragon and Leland Molinari also went deep for the Rams.

In the first game of the day, LSU signee Dylan Blomker struck out 13 Goddard batters in six innings of work as La Cueva — who suffered a lengthy, 17-16 loss on Wednesday evening at Cibola — rebounded on short rest to defeat 4A’s top-ranked Rockets 8-1.

Blomker (2-0) gave up just one hit, and walked two as he went six full innings.

Everett Burdett hit a home run for La Cueva (10-2). Back-to-back doubles by Kaiden Nerhood and Dillon Sopher upped the lead to 4-0 in the fourth inning.

Chase Qualler added a two-run double in a three-run sixth for the Bears as they grabbed an 8-1 advantage.

The final game of the day — which went well into the evening — for part of the way, shaped up as the most interesting first-rounder.

St. Pius had a five spot in the bottom of the third for a 5-3 lead on Carlsbad, highlighted by Joaquin Aragon’s two-run home run to left.

But the Cavemen (8-6) answered with four runs in the top of the fourth, two of those runs scoring on a key outfield error by the Sartans.

Carlsbad ran away and poured it on for a 20-5 victory.

James Yodice covers prep sports for the Journal. You can reach him at jyodice@abqjournal.com or via X at @JamesDYodice.