Youthful Colts fall to Eunice, but show promise
Photo courtesy NMMI Sports Press — Nelson gets a hit for NMMI in Game 2. He led the Colts, going 5-for-6 in the pair.
Karen Boehler
CCSR writer/editor
Photo courtesy NMMI Sports Press — NMMI's Harshul Ganjawala looks to score after rounding third base.
The youthful Colt baseball team’s opening day went pretty much as expected Monday — NMMI lost a pair of games to Eunice — but there were some bright spots — including the pitching of Austin Washburn and the hitting of Tyler Nelson — but mistakes were the big difference.
“We showed a lot, that first game out, how young we were and immature,” said NMMI coach Charlie Ward. “That was a good pitcher, tough. We’re not going to see many pitchers in AAA like him. He threw well. We stayed with him for a couple of at bats, but … I thought Washburn pitched real well, but he had no help. When you give up six, eight, nine, 10 extra outs, it’s hard to beat any team at any level, and they kept at us. Yes, we got smoked, but I was proud of the effort the second game.”
Photo courtesy NMMI Sports Press — Austin Washburn looks to be the ace this year for the Colts.
Eunice used Colt errors to jump out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning of Game 1, stretch that lead to 2-0 in the second and 6-0 after three.
But then Cardinal pitcher Tyler Almager showed he did have some weak spots.
He hit the No. 9 and No. 1 batters, Aaron Scarpa and John Bohnhoff, then allowed a single by Harshul Gangawala that scored Scarpa.
Nelson followed that with his second hit of the day — a triple down the right-field line — that scored Bohnhoff and Gangawala. A sacrifice by Washburn scored Nelson, but despite a single by Chance Cavin, the Colts couldn’t bring any more across — getting their last two out on a base-running mistake and ground out.
Trevor Fowler came in to pitch in the fourth, and that’s when the wheels fell off.
Photo courtesy NMMI Sports Press — Jorge Casellas makes the dig at first base.
Eunice scored 10 runs on seven hits, getting eight men across before the Colts managed the first out.
Almager struck out the side, then the Cards added another three runs in the fifth, and despite another single by Nelson — who was 3-for-3 with one run and two RBIs — the game ended under the mercy rule.
Game 2 was a lot closer, with one inning making the difference.
Eunice again scored first, this time on a solo home run by Ulises Lozano in the first, and made it 2-0 after three on a single, error and passed ball. But NMMI came back in the bottom of the stanza.
Photo courtesy NMMI Sports Press — Coach Ward gives instruction to Ernesto Bustamante.
With one out, Rafael Cardenas reached on an error. Bohnhoff and Gangawala walked, then Nelson hit a double to deep center, scoring all three before overrunning the base and getting called out.
The Colts had their first lead of the year, 3-2, but it was short-lived, as the Cardinals add one more run on a walk and two errors.
Eunice added four more in the sixth off reliever Gangawala — who replaced Nelson in the fifth — and despite runners on base in the fourth and fifth innings, NMMI couldn’t add any more.
Nelson (5-for-6) and Gangawala (2-for-3) led the hitting in both games.
Washburn took the loss in Game 1 and Gangawala in Game 2.
Photo courtesy NMMI Sports Press — NMMI's Chase Cavin holds a runner on at first base.
Almager and Gage Guffey both went the distance for Eunice, earning the wins.
“I think the kids came out and did a great job,” said Eunice coach Gary Frazier. “Our kids, a lot of them have just come out of basketball, so we haven’t had a whole lot of practice with about half of them, and the other half held us together, then they came through and hit the ball well, too.”
He said the comeback in Game 2 is something Cardinal teams are known for.
“That’s something these kids are good at,” he said. “We keep our composure and try to just chip away at something and then we’ll get that big run and try to take advantage of it.”
While Ward was disappointed with the mistakes, he saw a future.
“We didn’t know what to expect, and they just showed they can play,” he said. “We’re a work in progress. We’re going to take our lumps. We’re going to find out our maturity level. We’re going to find the character of this team, because we’re going to take our lumps and take some losses, but we’ll see if we can put this together by district time. They’re good kids. We’ve just got a long way to go.”
NMMI will look for its first victory Thursday in Loving beginning at 4 p.m.
Game stats: