Texico cruises into 3A semifinals

RIO RANCHO — The Texico Wolverines sprinted out to a great start in defense of their Class 3A title Wednesday morning.

But Texico knows it’s only starting a marathon, being held in an Albuquerque metro area that's already feeling like summer.

The top-seeded Wolverines jumped out to an 8-0 lead after two innings, and got a run with no outs in the bottom of the fifth to claim a 14-4 victory over ninth-seeded Laguna-Acoma in their 3A quarterfinal at Cleveland High School.

The Wolverines stay at Cleveland for a 4 p.m. matchup with Capitan — a 4-3 winner over Eunice in extra innings.

Dalton Thatcher went 3-for-3 with a double and a triple, while Robin Winton and Brayden Wines each went 2-for-3.

Texico got just enough pitching from Luke Phipps and Cyan Holmes to give the offense a chance to end things early.

“Luke wasn’t locked in like he normally was,” Texico coach Ty Thatcher said. “Cyan did a good job getting us out of an inning. He struggled and got behind in the count sometimes, but he came through with quality pitches in the end.”

First baseman Nathan Phipps also went 3-for-3 for the Wolverines.

The Hawks finished their season at 12-13.

The Wolverines have plenty of pitching options against Capitan, and a possible noon Friday championship at Isotopes Park. The decision on who would start Thursday was still in question Wednesday afternoon.

“It was extremely hot. It’s hard to make that call this early,” Coach Thatcher said. “We’ve got to make sure everybody wakes up on the right side of the bed and feels strong. That turf was hot, but it was hot for Capitan as well, and they went eight innings.”