Cats earn sweep at Manzano

ALBUQUERQUE — With the wind blowing in, runs were hard to come by in Saturday’s 2-6A baseball doubleheader between Clovis High and Manzano.

Fortunately for the Wildcats, they scratched out just enough offense behind junior right-handers Connor Langrell and Sebastian Nunez to claim a 1-0, 3-1 sweep of the Monarchs.

Langrell needed only 76 pitches en route to a three-hitter in the opener. He walked one and struck out eight in outpitching junior left-hander Mitchell Parker, who has already committed to the University of New Mexico.

“Just like last week (at home against Eldorado), the wind was blowing in today,” CHS coach Richard Cruce said. “In Game 1, I thought we had quite a few good at-bats against a quality pitcher.

“The second game, we also had a lot of great at-bats.”

Clovis (13-7, 2-2 district) scored the only run in the opener when catcher Jace Piepkorn led off the sixth with a walk, took second on Traejn Reames’ sacrifice and scored from there on a two-out infield hit by Nunez. The Manzano second baseman knocked the ball down, but couldn’t recover in time to make the play at home.

“It was a bang-bang play,” Cruce said.

Piepkorn also kept the Monarchs at bay, throwing out four of the team’s five baserunners trying to steal against Langrell.

Meantime, Parker went six innings in the loss, allowing just two hits. He walked two and had 12 strikeouts.

The Monarchs (6-12, 0-4) scored their only run of the day in the first inning of the nightcap, but Clovis answered with a three-run second capped by RBI singles from Piepkorn and Tomas Gallegos.

Langrell led off by reaching second on a Monarchs error, then scored when Manzano misplayed a single by E.J. Gonzales. After a sacrifice, Pipekorn hit an RBI single, took second on a groundout and scored on Gallegos’ hit.

Nunez finished with a two-hitter, walking five and striking out seven. Gallegos reached base four times with two walks and two singles.

The Cats finished with five hits off starter Leo Griego, who went three innings, and reliever Ruger Bravo.

“I’m proud of my kids,” Cruce said. “They got off the bus and had a plan today to try to win two games.”

The Cats return to action on Saturday, hosting Santa Fe High in a 1 p.m. district twin bill at Bell Park. After that, they end the regular season with district twin bills at Sandia and at home against La Cueva.