Clovis baseball team rebounds by thrashing Hobbs

HOBBS — On Friday, Clovis’ baseball team suffered its first loss of the young season. But the Wildcats wasted little time bouncing back from it.

On Saturday, Clovis hammered longtime rival Hobbs 11-2 at the Hobbs round-robin tournament, fueled by Garrett Langrell’s three-run homer and five total RBI.

“The group came out today with extra enthusiasm and played as a team,” Clovis coach Richard Cruce said. “We talked about responding to (Friday’s loss), and they did a great job of responding today.”

Hobbs, though, did grab a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, but Clovis soon took control. Seniors Joe Gallegos and Cam Kuykendall reached on errors in the top of the third and came in to score when junior Garrett Langrell clouted his three-run, two-out homer to left-center, putting the ’Cats up by two.

The score remained 3-1 Clovis until the top of the fifth, when the Wildcats broke it open. Gallegos led off with a single, followed by a Kuykendall single and a Connor Langrell bunt single to load the bases. Garrett Langrell then laced a two-run single to center, handing his team a 5-1 advantage.

Kayden Shober added his own two-run single with two outs in the fifth, making it 7-1.

Senior Colson Faircloth (1-0) was the winning pitcher, working five innings, scattering five hits, striking out four and overcoming four walks. Sebastian Nunez came out to pitch in the top of the sixth and threw two perfect innings while striking out three.

Garrett Langrell paced the offense, going 3-for-4 with those five RBI. Shober was 2-for-4 with three RBI. Seniors Connor Langrell and Jace Piepkorn were each 2-for-5.

With Saturday’s win, Clovis has already beaten Hobbs three times this season.

“It’s always good to have an old district opponent, get after ’em a little when you get a chance to,” Cruce said.

Clovis (4-1) will play Cleveland (0-3) in the Cleveland Invitational Tournament on Thursday, beginning at 4:30 p.m. The Wildcats will then meet Aztec on Friday at 12:30 p.m. and Piedra Vista on Saturday at noon.