Wildcats sweep Roswell

Senior shortstop Jobi Fontenot went 6-for-9, including a game-tying single in the seventh inning of the opener, and Clovis High's baseball team went on to an 8-7, 9-3 sweep of Roswell High on Tuesday at Bell Park.

CNJ staff photo: Tony Bullocks

Clovis senior second baseman Jared Hughes tags out Roswell's Johnny Chavez during a sixth inning on a steal attempt.

In the first game, the teams picked up in the bottom of the third inning with the Coyotes leading 2-1 after rain forced postponement of their doubleheader on March 20. The Wildcats (8-9) promptly scored twice to take the lead, but the Coyotes (1-15) erupted for five runs in the top of the fifth to move back in front 7-3.

In the sixth, junior Tyler Greene hit a two-out, three-run double to left to get the Cats close. With one out in the seventh, Matt Woodbury walked, Scott Lybarger and Peyton Lott singled to load the bases, and Jobi Fontenot singled home Woodbury with the tying run.

Senior second baseman Jared Hughes then missed on a suicide squeeze bunt and Lybarger was caught in a rundown between third and home. But Hughes hit the next pitch between first and second for a game-winning RBI single.

"I'm just proud of the kids for finding a way to win," Cats coach Drew Hatley said. "It was a big at-bat by Tyler to pull us within one."

CNJ staff photo: Tony Bullocks

Clovis sophomore Peyton Lott jumps out of the way from a pitch in the bottom of the third inning of Tuesday's game against Roswell at Bell Park.

Fontenot led an 11-hit Clovis attack, going 4-for-5.

"The kid who stood out was Jobi Fontenot," Hatley said. "We kicked it around a little bit in that one inning (the five-run fifth), but our kids were resilient."

Woodbury worked the first six innings of the opener, giving up seven runs — only one earned — on five hits with three walks and six strikeouts. Lybarger earned the win after escaping a bases-loaded jam in the seventh.

In Game 2, Ean Morris hit a two-run single and Lott added a two-run triple as Clovis scored eight times in the third inning to erase a 2-0 deficit.

Greene pitched four innings, allowing three hits and striking out seven, before Robbie Coleman finished for a save. Hughes and Greene also had two hits for the Cats, who outhit Roswell High 11-5.

The Cats begin District 4-5A action on Saturday when they host Hobbs in an 11 a.m. doubleheader at Bell Park.