Rams win 4-3 to pull sweep

STAFF WRITER

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Baseball is less about how many hits or baserunners you have in total than what you do with them in the three-out increments you get.

The West Las Vegas Dons found out the hard way Saturday, ending their season with “what if” situations in the sixth and seventh innings as Portales survived 4-3 to sweep the weekend Class 4A first-round series Saturday at Ram Field.

Staff photo: Matthew Asher

Senior Jacob Salgado avoids a tag in the bottom of the first inning against West Las Vegas, scoring the first run of the day for the Rams. Portales won 4-3, advancing to the quarterfinals of the state playoffs where they will face Bloomington on Thursday morning.

Portales (21-6), which withstood a bases-loaded situation in the seventh and got a key double play in the sixth, will bring an 18-game winning streak into its 10 a.m. Thursday quarterfinal against seventh-seeded Bloomfield (18-10) at Rio Rancho High School to start the final three single-elimination rounds.

Entering the sixth, the Rams held a 4-1 lead but the visiting Dons (13-15) were knocking on the door with a runner on second and one out against a battle-worn Emilio Lovato.

Lovato had already worked out of two innings with runners in scoring position, but a blood blister started to develop on his throwing hand and affect his command.

With some help from his defense, and possibly a baserunning miscue, he escaped. Freshman James Archuleta was the next batter and hit a ground ball right to shortstop Joe Ortega, who conceded third base and went to first for the second out. But the Dons tried to take the extra base, and first baseman Grant Wagner tossed a strike to catcher Joel Legarda for the tag to complete an inning-ending 5-3-2 twin killing.

“Joseph gave me a good throw,” Wagner said. “I got up and got it. I heard people saying, ‘Four,’ and out of my peripheral I saw him go home. I threw it in their and Joel made a great tag. That was definitely a huge play and stopped their momentum.”

Lovato concurred.

“That picked us all up,” he said. “We needed it to get our gears going. I just wanted to pitch and my team was right there behind me.”

With the blister playing more of a factor, Lovato allowed a pair of singles to open the seventh and an error at second loaded the bases before coach Dusty Nusser came to the mound.

“I just told him to keep doing what he was doing,” Nusser said. “That blood blister was starting to hurt the command.”

Lovato responded by striking out the next two batters before Jeremy Fernandez cut the lead to one with a single to left.

Still, Nusser stayed with Lovato, who got the game-ending grounder to short.

Staff photo: Matthew Asher

Portales second baseman Chris Aranda heads off the field after tagging second base for the final out of Portales’ 4-3 win over West Las Vegas Saturday afternoon.

“That’s the type of kid he is,” Nusser said. “He battles and works his tail off. We knew we were going to get that out of him like we did with Grant yesterday. Hats off to him, he had a heck of a game.”

The Rams recorded just three hits, but drew a pair of walks and five hit batsmen and played small-ball to build their early lead.

“We had the opportunity to hit and missed out on them,” Wagner said of his team’s lack of offense. “But defense wins games. Emilio pitched a heck of a game. I know how painful it is to throw with a blood blister on his finger. It affects your throws. He stuck in there and played like he knows how to. Out of sheer adrenaline and love for the game he was able to pitch through it.”