Ram baseball swept at Goddard

ROSWELL - How long was Portales' District 4-4A series opener against Goddard? Three days later, it was the series closer.

The Rams took a 6-2 loss Monday at Goddard in a rain-delayed conclusion to the three-game series, resuming what was the Friday opener to the three-game series.

The teams played the other two games in the series as scheduled Saturday, with the host Rockets winning both by 10-0 counts.

Friday saw Portales (9-13, 0-6) score early on a two-run single by Baylor Diaz. After that, Portales was shut out and managed nine hits over the three-game series.

"They were tough," Portales coach Dusty Nusser said. "They've played high-level ball for a couple of years now. On Friday, we were down 3-2 and didn't feel too bad about things, and then the rain came. Their pitchers did a pretty good job (Saturday and Monday) of not letting us get momentum going."

The coaches made the decision to hold off on concluding the Friday game until Monday, as both teams would have had concerns about pitch counts had they played a near tripleheader Saturday.

The arrangement now leaves the Rams with a short week heading into their lone home series of the 4-4A season against Lovington.

"We're pitching good, and we've been playing pretty good defense," Nusser said. "We've just got to put the ball in play. We've had a lot of strikeouts (26 in the series, 13 on Friday/Monday)."

The Wildcats come to Portales for a three-game series with both teams hopeful they can claim one of the 16 seeds for the Class 4A tournament.

"We win two, that puts us third in district behind the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the coaches poll," Nusser said. "If we win three, we should be in. If we win two, we like our chances."