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Thursday, April 3, 2008

Pintos Wrap Up Predistrict Play With 18-0 Win

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
    SANTA FE— The Moriarty High baseball team concluded its predistrict season with an 18-0, five-inning victory at Capital on Friday.
    The Pintos also beat Class 5A Highland 10-0 in Moriarty on March 27.
    Pintos senior Ben Gonzales hit a three-run, inside-the park home run in the top of the fourth inning against the Jaguars on Friday to give his team a 17-0 advantage. Nick Gonzales, Ben's cousin, and James Gambling also scored on the play.
    "It was an inside fastball," Gonzales said.
    Senior J Stablein was the winning pitcher against West Mesa. Nick Chavez got the victory at Capital after his team put together a 9-0 lead in the first inning.
    Ben and Nick Gonzales both hit a double in the first.
    "We've still got a lot of work to do," Ben Gonzales said in Santa Fe. "But I think we'll win District (5-4A)."
    But that district goal hit a snag Tuesday when Albuquerque Academy squeaked by Moriarty 6-5 at the Thomas J. Schnell Complex. The Pintos dropped to 6-3, 0-1, and the Chargers are now 6-5, 1-0.
    The loss snapped Moriarty's five-game winning streak. Stablein, the losing pitcher, was 2-for-3 at the plate.
   
Manzano
    The Monarchs (6-6, 1-0) won their first District 5-5A game on Tuesday.
    Manzano beat Highland 11-10 at the Purple Pride's field. Eric Reaves got the win on the mound.
    Monarch Russell Hartshorn of Tijeras was 3-for-3 batting with two doubles and two RBI. Kelly Fillinger was 2-for-4 with a home run, a triple and three RBI, and Scott Schlosser was 2-for-4 with a two RBI and two runs.
    Manzano also beat West Mesa 16-3 in a nondistrict game at the Mustangs' field on Saturday.
    Rio Rancho knocked off the Monarchs 5-1 in a nondistrict contest at Manzano on March 27.
    "We just couldn't string some hits together," Monarchs coach Jim Briggs said after the loss. "We had some close ones in the beginning that looked like they were going to drop. But their right fielder did a good job."
    Monarch Chad Robertson's single in the game's next-to-last at-bat in the seventh inning scored Hartshorn for Manzano's sole run.
    "We're close," Hartshorn said after the Rams' game. "It's just lucky hits here and there, or we'd be right up there."
   
East Mountain
    The Timberwolves are 7-1 after sweeping a doubleheader— 14-4, 14-7— against the Sandia Prep junior varsity at Vista Grande Community Center on Tuesday.
    Marco Grieco and Rian Padilla earned the pitching victories. Greg Stottlemeyer, a home run, three RBI; Padilla, 2 homers, 11 RBI; and Grieco, 5 RBI, were the batting leaders.
    "Our nine guys for this game— due to suspensions— played fairly well against a young team with little experience," EMHS coach David Naylor wrote in an e-mail Wednesday. "Defensive miscues and base running errors were somewhat of an issue, although not too costly in these games.
    "(We're) looking forward to playing (Española) McCurdy (today in the T'Wolves' District 5-2A opener)," the coach continued. "But we really need to sharpen things up."
   
Estancia
    The Los Lunas Valencia junior varsity, representing a new school which will be in Class 4A in the future, handed the Bears (6-1) their first loss of the season at the EHS field on Tuesday.
    The Jaguars, who beat Estancia 14-12, do not have a varsity squad at this point.
    "We had some unfortunate errors; we need to work on that," Bears coach Mike Cabber said. "We did use some new players to see what we had. It wasn't a disappointing loss really, but it was one we could've won."