No joy in Clovis Tuesday night

CLOVIS — The Clovis baseball team’s season opener wasn’t exactly one to put in a time capsule.

Unless the time capsule is buried in Lubbock.

Facing Lubbock-Coronado Tuesday night at Bell Park, Clovis was beaten 20-0, as the Mustangs belted 19 hits while holding the Wildcats to just two in a game halted in six innings by the mercy rule.

It began OK enough for Clovis, as Coronado mustered only run in the top of the first on an RBI groundout by designated hitter Jaxson Edwards. The run wouldn’t even have scored had it not been for a ball getting lost in the dirt earlier on Edwards’ at-bat, allowing Cameron Stevenson to advance from second to third.

So, 1-0 Coronado it was after Clovis starting pitcher Norbert Archibeque induced Jacob Richardson’s inning-ending groundout.

In the top of the second, though, Coronado’s bats lit up, knocking in five runs. The biggest wallop was an RBI double from Bo Jacob Garza.

A 6-0 hole was tough enough, but the Wildcats weren’t hitting Mustang starter Gary Franco, who was perfect through 3 1/3 innings. Of the 10 batters Franco set down in that span, nine were by strikeout.

Finally, with one out in the bottom of the fourth, senior Anthony Gonzales smacked a 1-1 offering from Franco in centerfield to pry Clovis off the hit schneid. Then after Franco recorded his 10th strikeout of the night, Clovis’ Zayvier Hartman ripped a single to right.

Coronado banged out two more runs in the top of the fifth inning off the Wildcat reliever Hartman, making it 8-0. And though Landry Watson relieved Franco to start the bottom of the fifth, Clovis didn’t have any luck hitting him. It turned out, in fact, that the Wildcats had collected all the hits they were going to with the two they notched against Franco in the fourth.

Clovis’ wheels came completely off in the top of the sixth, as Coronado sent 17 batters to the plate and scored 12 runs.

The nice thing about baseball, though, is that it’s not like football, despite Tuesday’s football-like score. Instead of having a week to try and rebound, the Wildcats will play again Thursday against Artesia in the Hobbs Round Robin Tournament. Game time is slated for 3 p.m.

Hopefully for the Wildcats, they can end February on a positive note.