Ram streak hits 16

The Portales Rams baseball team concluded its regular season on quite a roll as they swept district foe East Mountain 10-0 and 5-3 on Saturday afternoon to extended their winning streak to 16 games and stay perfect in District 4-4A play.

It was senior day for the Rams and fittingly ,it came down to two rarely-used seniors to score the 10th and final run of the first game to run-rule the Timberwolves.

With Portales (19-6, 12-0) leading 9-0, coach Dusty Nusser put Andrew Garcia in as a pinch hitter to led off the fifth inning. Garcia responded by hitting a single.

“This was my first hit of the season,” Garcia said. “It was pretty cool. It was great for me ‘cause I haven’t got to do it yet. I thought it was a great opportunity to help my team further advance in this game.”

Staff photo: Matthew Asher

Portales senior Andrew Garcia safely steals second base in the bottom of the fifth inning against East Mountain on Saturday afternoon. Garcia would score the game-ending run when senior Drew Jackson drove him in on a sacrifice fly RBI to win the first game 10-0 in five innings.

Garcia wasn’t finished as he beat out a throw to stole second base and then advanced to third on a wild pitch to put the game-ending run 90 feet from home plate.

“It was a planned steal,” Garcia said. “My thoughts were, ‘Just make it before the tag.’”

Senior Jacob Salgado then hit a shot into the outfield gap. However, Nusser held Garcia at third to allow Drew Jackson a chance to record his first hit of the season.

On the first pitch of his at-bat, Jackson hit into centerfield for a deep sacrifice fly, allowing Garcia to easily score from third and end the game.

“This was my third at-bat of the season,” Jackson said. “The previous two were strikeouts. I went up there and decided if (the pitcher) threw me a strike I might as well just swing at it and see what happens.”

Nusser was pleased that he seniors got their chance to shine.

“These guys put in a lot of time,” Nusser said of Garcia and Jackson. “They’ve been in the program since they were in eighth grade. They came in this year and understood their role. It’s nice to see these guys rewarded for their hard work.”

East Mountain (2-20, 0-12) simply had no answer for Portales. On the defensive side, sophomore Josiah Lucero pitched a very efficient five innings for the Rams, allowing just three hits and striking out three batters in just 53 pitches.

“Josiah threw well,” Nusser said. “We knew he was going to do that. That’s what we’ve expected out of him all season.”

For the second game, Nusser handed the ball to sophomore Damian Belden, who had played most of the season on the junior varsity team, to start off the final regular season game. The results weren’t as good as Lucero’s outing as Belden gave up three runs off seven hits. However, the Rams scored all five of their runs in the first inning and never let Belden worry about playing from behind.

“He did really well,” Nusser said of Belden’s outing. “He gave up two runs in the first inning but after that he settled down and started throwing his curveball. But kudos to (East Mountain pitcher Hunter Harlan) because he did a good job of keeping us to the five runs we got in the first inning.”

Belden finished with 83 pitches in six innings, striking out three and walking three batters before Nusser handed the ball over to junior Emilio Lovato who needed just seven pitches to set down the Timberwolves in order.

With the District 4-4A title already won, the Rams will find out where they are seeded for the postseason tournament. Currently, MaxPreps has the Rams ranked third behind Sandia Prep and Hope Christian and with the Rams leading Hope Christian in a game earlier that was called due to weather, a No. 2 or 3 seed seems likely.

“We’ll find out Sunday afternoon,” Nusser said about the seeding. “We then figure out where to go from here. We’ll most likely play one game Friday and then if needed, two games on Saturday.”