Rams thump Gallup, reach fifth-place game

MORIARTY – Portales High’s baseball team advanced to Saturday’s fifth-place game in an eight-team tournament at Moriarty, beating Gallup 8-2 on Friday.

The Rams (4-3) were slated to face Pojoaque (6-4) in Saturday’s final round. The Elks rallied to edge Santa Fe Capital 7-6 in their Friday contest.

PHS junior right-hander Kaiden Gutierrez went the distance against the Bengals, allowing just two hits and one earned run with one walk and seven strikeouts.

“It was a great performance by Kaiden on the bump,” Rams coach Ruben Tellez said. “Offensively, we stranded a few guys on base; we’re still trying to find our groove, but what’s good is we came out victorious.”

Gallup (1-10) scored both of its runs in the top of the first, coming on a two-run single by sophomore Chase Blackgoat. But the Rams countered with four in their half, and Gutierrez allowed only one more hit the rest of the way.

Portales added a run in the third before all but putting the game out of reach with three in the sixth, keyed by junior Andru Ontiveros’ two-run double.

Portales collected nine hits in the match, led by senior Trevin Price and sophomore Elijah Tellez with two hits apiece.

After today’s game, the Rams return to action with a 4:30 p.m. twin bill on Tuesday at Roswell High.

Hope Christian 20, Portales 4 (Thursday, quarterfinals) – The Huskies put together three consecutive innings of at least five runs and won in five on the 10-run rule.

Hope Christian (6-3), which blanked Moriarty 14-0 on Friday and was slated to play Belen in Saturday’s title tilt, collected 15 hits, all but one of them singles. Sophomore Brady McGahie went 3-for 3 with an RBI and three runs scored, while senior Matt Taylor, junior Brandon Chavez and freshman Caleb Pena all added a pair of knocks.

Gutierrez went 2-for-2 for the Rams with an RBI and a run scored, while Ontiveros was 2-for-3 with a double and a run batted in.