Rams return to 4A finals

ALBUQUERQUE — Portales High's seniors came up big on Friday, especially late, helping the Rams advance to a second straight Class 4A state baseball championship game with a 4-3 comeback win over St. Michael's at the University of New Mexico's baseball facility.

The second-seeded Rams (23-7) overcame a 3-1 deficit with three runs in the bottom of the seventh. Senior Alex Galvan tied the score with a two-run single before senior Joe Ortega singled home eighth-grader Baylor Diaz, in the game as a pinch-runner, for the winning run.

Senior Darion Ontiveros fought off several two-strike pitches and got the rally started with a single before another senior, Emilio Lovato, doubled him to third. Galvan followed with his game-tying single before Ortega's hit won it.

Portales will face top-seeded Hope Christian — 18-10 winners over No. 4 Silver in the other semifinal — in today's noon championship game at Isotopes Park. The Rams will be going for their second title in school history to go along with their Class 3A win in 2012.

Rams coach Dusty Nusser said his team had confidence with its seniors coming to bat in the seventh inning.

"We knew we had the right guys coming up to give us the chance to win," Nusser said. "Our four seniors came through huge for us today."

Left-hander Josiah Lucero got off to a shaky start on the mound for Portales. He was relieved with one out in the second by Ortega, who allowed just one run over the final 5 2/3 innings.

Nusser said the usually reliable Lucero just didn't have his best stuff on Friday, and thus he went to Ortega.

"Both of those guys have done a great job for us all year, so we knew we could count on them," Nusser said. "Josiah just didn't have it today. Things started snowballing for him early, so we didn't wait to long and went to Joe early."

St. Michael's (19-12), the third seed, added a run in the fifth for a 3-0 lead before the Rams got on the board in the bottom half on a solo homer by Lovato.

Something which hurt the Rams in last year's 13-0 championship-game loss to Sandia Prep was the fact they ran out of arms in the bullpen. Nusser said the Rams' District 4-4A schedule, which included three-game series, helped the team prepare for the three-day run at state.

"I think the way we did our district this year, it prepared us for three-game stretches," he said. "Damian (Belden) started five or six games for us, so he has a lot of innings and has thrown well, too. So the way we worked our district really helped."

Lovato, the team's ace, and Ortega will be unavailable to pitch in today's game, Nusser said, but he added that Belden has racked up a lot of innings and had only one bad outing this season. In addition, Lucero could go again after his short stint on Friday.

This will be Portales' eighth time in a championship game. Besides last season, Portales finished second in 2008, 2004, 1995, 1982 and 1966.