Cleveland ties Rio Rancho in 1-5A baseball standings

The District 1-5A baseball standings look different now than they did Tuesday morning.

The change occurred at the top, where fourth-ranked Cleveland edged No. 3-ranked Rio Rancho 5-4 on Tuesday afternoon at Cleveland.

The Storm (15-6, 4-1) pulled even with the Rams (16-5, 4-1) for first place, and only five games left in the regular season for each.

“It was a great win,” Cleveland coach Shane Shallenberger said. “It was a battle both ways, luckily we came out on top this time.”

Cleveland broke a 3-3 tie with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

The go-ahead run scored on consecutive passed balls with a runner at second. Moments later, Anthony del Angel — who had earlier hit a home run for the Storm — scored the team’s fifth run on a sacrifice fly to right.

Gabe Nelson staked Cleveland to a 2-0 lead in the third with a two-RBI double to right.

Rio Rancho tied the game 2-all in the top of the fifth; del Angel’s homer in the bottom half made it 3-2.

The Rams came back again, and scored a run in the top of the sixth for a 3-3 tie.

Nelson also earned the save in relief on Tuesday for the Storm.

Cleveland’s win also was of benefit to ninth-ranked Volcano Vista (13-8, 3-2), which gained a game in the 1-5A standings on Rio Rancho as well following a 10-5 road win at No. 6 Cibola (14-7, 2-3).

The Hawks, coming off a tough last-inning road loss to Cleveland on Friday, scored the first six runs of the game Tuesday.

Volcano Vista scored single runs in the first and second innings, and Noah Massey’s two-run homer to left-center upped the lead to 4-0 in third.

The lead grew as large as 6-0 in the fourth inning before the Cougars began to answer. They put up three runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut the deficit in half, and also tacked on a run in the sixth to bring the score to 6-4.

But the Hawks added four crucial insurance runs in the top of the seventh, highlighted by Andrew Gonzales’ two-run home run.

In District 5-4A, Valley and Hope Christian won games Tuesday.

The Vikings, preparing for a huge showdown game Friday against league leader Albuquerque Academy, downed visiting Bernalillo 10-6.

Valley (11-10, 3-1), ranked No. 3 in the latest Class 4A coaches’ poll that came out Tuesday, raced out to a 4-0 lead in its first at-bat and never looked back, leading all the way against the Spartans.

Valley put up seven early runs against Bernalillo, including a solo home run by AJ Chavez.

Estevan Fernandez earned the win for Valley, throwing five strong innings, and striking out seven.

The Vikings are home again on Friday to face Academy (12-9, 4-0). The Chargers defeated Los Alamos outside of district on Tuesday. Academy already owns a 6-3 win over Valley, and another victory Friday would essentially lock up the regular season district title.

No. 6-ranked Hope Christian routed Del Norte 13-2 on Tuesday, as the Huskies (13-6, 1-2) won their first league game.

Jacob Gergen went 2-for-3 with a double, a triple and two RBIs.

Brady McGahie and Luciano Gabaldon also had two hits in the win.

In a nondistrict 5A matchup Tuesday, No. 1 La Cueva came from behind and won 9-4 over No. 10 Los Lunas, the leader in District 5-5A.

The visiting Tigers took a 3-1 lead in the third inning. The Bears didn’t pull even, and go ahead, until the bottom of the fifth.

In a five-run fifth, the Bears did their damage with two out. Braiden Reynolds tied the game at 3-3 with an RBI single to left. Everett Burdett’s RBI single gave La Cueva a 4-3 lead.

Reid Jacobson doubled home a run for a 5-3 advantage.

Yet another two-out hit by Dylan Blomker upped the edge to 6-3 for La Cueva, and the fifth run of the inning score on an error.