Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Teams hope to be Class 2A's top two seeds
TEXICO — If the Texico and Eunice baseball teams are indeed seeded 1-2 in the upcoming state 2A tournament — as the Wolverines think they might be — Monday’s doubleheader could have been a good or bad omen for the green and white.
When the teams entered Monday’s twin bill at Texico, the Wolverines had a 13-4 record, Eunice 14-5. They wound up splitting the day’s action, as Texico won the opener 9-0 and Eunice salvaged the doubleheader with an 8-3 victory in the nightcap. Texico emerged 14-5, Eunice 15-6.
No harm, no foul? Well, it showed the Wolverines can beat Eunice, but also that they could lose to the Cardinals. Hmmmm.
On the glass-half-full side, senior hurler Dalton Thatcher fired a complete-game, three-hit shutout in the opener, striking out nine along the way.
Texico’s Freddy Davalos went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored in that first game. Cole Rohrbach had two RBIs and two runs scored. Thatcher scored three runs and walked once. Defensively, the Wolverines did not commit an error.
Texico jumped out quickly, scoring two runs on an error in the bottom of the first inning.
Three more Wolverine runs crossed in the fourth, thanks to RBI singles from Robin Winton and Luke Phipps, and a fielder’s choice from David Davalos.
The Wolverines later added five more runs and went on to post their eighth consecutive victory.
But Texico’s win streak was snapped like a twig in the second game, despite the Wolverines outhitting the Cardinals 7-5.
Texico did take a 1-0 lead on Freddy Davalos’ RBI single in the bottom of the second inning. But Eunice tied it in the top of the third on a ground out by Juan Sosa.
The Cardinals went up 2-1 in the top of the fourth inning on Logan Gaskins’ solo home run. Eunice added two more in the top of the sixth and four in the seventh to break the game open late. Texico’s two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning weren’t nearly enough.
Freddy Davalos was 2-for-3 with an RBI, a walk and a run scored in the nightcap. Luke Phipps drove in a run for the Wolverines.
But Phipps also absorbed the pitching loss, despite allowing just four hits and collecting five strikeouts in six innings of work. Seven runs scored on Phipps’ watch, but only four were earned. He did surrender three walks.
Seth Griego pitched an inning for Texico, allowing one run and one hit.
With non-district foe Eunice out of the way, Texico looks ahead to its last District 7-2A game at Santa Rosa on Friday (4 p.m.). The Wolverines conclude their regular-season slate on Saturday at New Mexico Military Institute (1 p.m.).
