Capitan edges Floyd in pitchers' duel

CAPITAN — Floyd played in the type of game a purist would love Wednesday afternoon in Capitan, with four runs allowed and 25 total strikeouts with both pitchers going the distance in the Class 1A first-round matchup.

"It was a baseball game; it wasn't one of those slugfests," Floyd coach Darwin Chenault said after the eighth-seeded Broncos took a 3-1 defeat to the top-seeded Tigers. "We had a lot of good defense. There were two really even teams. I think the only difference was our kid had four or five walks and a hit batsman."

Raul Villega allowed just four hits and struck out 13 Broncos against four walks, with only one Bronco getting past second base on the day — Terrel Watson, who scored on an RBI double by W.T. Whitecotton in the fifth.

Capitan (14-4) took advantage of first-inning miscues by the Broncos, and got an RBI single by Jacob Wilcox and a bases-loaded, two-out walk issued to Tracker Bowen.

From that point on, Floyd pitcher Jose Torres settled down and struck out five of the next seven batters he faced. Torres finished with 12 punchouts himself, against four walks and three hits.

"He had a rough start," Chenault said of Torres, "but he showed a lot of heart and he kind of dominated."

Capitan's Dillon Trapp was the only hitter the rest of the way to manage a hit, but that included a solo homer to lead off the fourth and give the Tigers a little insurance.

Chenault wasn't upset with how the Broncos hit, noting that most of the Broncos' hardest hits were right at Capitan fielders.

The Tigers will face fourth-seeded Questa in an 11 a.m. Wednesday semifinal at Rio Rancho High School. The Broncos' season ends at 10-10.