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Thursday, May 15, 2008

Cards Get Revenge

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
      Turnabout is fair play.
       The Eunice Cardinals, eliminated during the state playoffs by Estancia the past two seasons, upset the two-time defending Class 2A champion Bears 7-2 in this year's state high school baseball semifinals at Eldorado High's field on Tuesday afternoon.
       “We were glad to get that monkey off our back,” Eunice coach Gary Frazier said. “When we heard what the brackets were and saw we had to go through them, we were happy to get that challenge. We were especially happy the way it turned out, that we pulled it out.”
       The fifth-seeded Cardinals broke a 2-2 tie with five runs in the top of the seventh. A two-run double by Eunice's Ulises Lozano, a couple of base hits from his teammates, a pair of walks, an Estancia error and a controversial, close call on a force attempt at second base, the latter with two outs and the bases loaded, hurt the No. 1 Bears.
       Cardinals reliever Brandon Davis squelched any hope for an Estancia rally in the bottom of the final inning.
       The Bears, who won their third straight District 5-2A crown this season, concluded 2008 with an overall record of 15-4. They had been on an eight-game winning streak before Tuesday's loss.
       Eunice improved to 17-7. The Cards played No. 2 Loving, in a matchup of District 6-2A rivals, in the state-title game at Isotopes Park late Wednesday.
       “It wasn't a lot of fun (Tuesday),” Estancia coach Mike Cabber said. “But we had a great year. We had such a good season, I didn't know how to talk to them about the loss because we've had so few of them. I didn't have my speech prepared.”
       Bear Isaiah Ortiz pitched the entire game. The senior had nine strikeouts, walked five and allowed seven hits.
       “Umpires,” a simmering Ortiz said when asked what the difference in the game was.
       Though Cabber acknowledged that he wished some of the officials' calls would have gone their way, he wouldn't condemn the blue-clad crew.
       “They are subjective decisions,” he said.
       When it was all over, the Estancia players readily shook the Cardinals hands, and Robert Chavez, the Bears' senior third baseman, patted several of his opponents on the back in a show of good sportsmanship.
       “You've just got to tell (the younger players) to just go out and get them next year,” Chavez said. “We had a real good season. I'm not disappointed with any of my teammates, from the seniors to the freshmen.”
       The Bears knotted the score at 2 in the fourth inning.
       Estancia junior Stefan Newsom, who was frustrated by the perceived low-ball strikes being called by the plate ump, got a single after a full count. Chavez then drove in Newsom with a double via a fly ball to deep center field, and senior Michael Hill's fly down the third-base line sent Chavez home.
       The Bears did not score after Davis took the mound in the fifth inning. Eunice's pitching duo combined for eight Ks, three walks and five hits.
       Chavez was 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run. Newsom was 2-for-3 with a run, and Hill was 1-for-3 with an RBI.
       Lozano paced Eunice. He was 2-for-3 with two doubles, two RBI, and he scored two runs.
       Quarterfinals
       Estancia scored five runs in both the first and second innings and went on to defeat Mesa Vista 11-6 at Eldorado on Monday. The Trojans' campus is in Ojo Caliente, about 30 miles north of Española.
       Cabber saved his top two pitchers, Ortiz and senior Clayton Gardner, by using junior John Torres-Jaquez, who started, and then, in the third inning, inserting Destry Oberg.
       “Destry stepped up,” Cabber said. “For a freshman to come in with the bases loaded and one out, and handle it like he did was pretty good.”
       Oberg got 11 of the Bears' 12 strikeouts, he was charged with three of the four walks, and he gave up two of the Trojan's 12 hits. Mesa Vista pitching combined for seven Ks, 10 walks, one hit batsman and allowed 11 hits.
       Oberg was 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI. Newsom was 2-for-2 with a stolen base, two RBI and two runs; and Chavez (1-for-3) and senior Steven Gregory (1-for-1) both had a double, two RBI and scored two runs.
   

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