Rams baseball team routs Eunice

EUNICE — For the second day in a row, Portales baseball found that one inning to explode, following a slow offensive start. During Friday’s game at the Eunice Cardinal Tournament against Eunice, that inning turned out to be the top of the fifth, in a 15-0 blowout victory.

“It kind of started with them making an error, and that kind of got us going a little bit,” Rams coach Dusty Nusser said. “We did a really good job of battling their pitcher (Logan Gaskins), and he’s a really good pitcher.

“But we fouled off a lot of his pitches and got his pitch count pretty high after three innings, and he ended with 97 pitches after four innings. We drew six walks against him and then we got to their bullpen.”

Portales (2-1) led 2-0, heading into the inning, but then numerous Eunice (1-2) mistakes started to add up, leading to 13 Ram runs in the fifth. The Cardinals, despite striking out eight Rams, allowed 11 walks and committed three errors on the night.

Portales did not have an extra base hit, but didn’t need it with all of that help from Eunice. Jordan Garcia, who starred on the mound with a complete game shutout, which included six strikeouts and just three hits allowed, went 1-for-3 at the dish with two RBIs.

The Rams will conclude the tournament tonight at 7 against Midland Christian. Portales has outscored its opponents 28-1 in the first two games of the Eunice Tournament thus far, which is a very pleasing sight for Nusser.

“That’s what we’ve wanted,” Nusser explained. “We’ve had some slow starts, but the guys have done a nice job of getting it going. (Eunice) made a few errors and walked 11, and anytime you do that, it’s hard to win.”

Friday's summary

Portales 13, Eunice 0

Portales 101 013 — 15 6 0

Eunice 000 00 — 0 3 3

Jordan Garcia and Joel Legarda. Logan Gaskins, Noah Mendoza (5th), Loposhev Piane (5th) and Piane. Top hitters — Portales, Garcia 1-3, 2 RBI; Baylor Diaz 1-2, 2RBI, 3 BB; Josiah Lucero 1-4, 3R. Eunice, Mason Capoton 1-2, BB; Jacob Mendoza 1-2. Records — Portales 2-1, Eunice 1-2.