Tucumcari baseball hangs tough

The Tucumcari baseball team was hanging tough, trailing visiting Santa Rosa 6-3 after six innings.

Then the Rattlers were forced to change pitchers, and the roof fell in.

After Tucumcari coach Dennis Dysart lifted starting hurler Johnathan Blea after 6 1/3 innings during a May 11 game because of a mounting pitch count, the Lions scored 11 runs, mostly against Rattler position players who'd never pitched before. Santa Rosa's lead ballooned to 17-3, which turned out to be the final score.

In the last inning, the Rattlers struck out three straight times, ending the game, after their first two batters walked. Tucumcari fell to 0-2 on the season.

The game illustrated Tucumcari's lack of pitching depth, especially with Joey Dysart sidelined because of hip injury.

"We need pitching," the coach said. "The name of the game is pitching. We did OK in the first few innings. But once Johnathan wore out, that's when we went down."

Jaron Sanchez became a one-man wrecking crew for Santa Rosa, with two inside-the-park home runs and a double amid his four hits. He totaled four RBI, including a two-run homer in the sixth that proved to be the game-winner.

Tucumcari eighth-grader Joseph Cordova drove in two runs for the Rattlers on a bases-loaded walk and a fielder's choice. He also was batting when the third Tucumcari run scored on a balk.

Dysart said he was impressed with another eighth-grader, Josh Griego, who played catcher for much of the game.

"The eighth-graders we had in there, I thought they played pretty well," he said. "I thought it was excellent for a lot of the kids to get a chance to play who haven't played before."

Blea pitched his way out of several jams and kept the Lions from ringing up big innings. Just one run, which was unearned, scored in the first inning after a walk and hit a batter. He pitched around a walk and single in the second, a hit batter in the third and a walk in the fourth.

Meanwhile, Tucumcari tied it in the second when Cordova drew a bases-loaded walk, scoring Juano Martinez.

In the fourth, the Rattlers took a 2-1 lead when Luiso Molinas reached second on an error, Khobie Salvador walked and both advanced on a wild pitch. Molinas scampered home when the pitcher threw to first for a force out on Cordova's chopper.

Santa Rosa tied it in the fifth when Sanchez hit a solo inside-the-park home run over the left fielder's head. Blea then loaded the bases on three walks but escaped with no further damage with three strikeouts.

In the sixth, Sanchez blasted another inside-the-park homer into the left-field gap, scoring two runs for a 4-2 lead.

Blea was lifted after 108 pitches (the limit is 120) for Griego, who allowed a single, a walk and a hit batter for two more runs, one which was unearned. Blea's line was 6 1/3 innings pitched with four hits allowed, seven walks, two hit batters, eight strikeouts and three earned runs.

Tucumcari answered in the bottom of the sixth when Josh Infante walked, JayZan Collar walked and Molinas was hit by a pitch. With Cordova batting, Santa Rosa's pitcher balked, sending in Infante to close the gap to 6-3.

Santa Rosa sent eight batters to the plate against Griego in the seventh inning, rapping seven hits amid two Tucumcari errors to fatten its lead to 13-3.

Molinas, normally a first baseman or third baseman, relieved Griegos. He allowed four more hits and two walks as the Lions increased their lead to 17-3.

Salvador and Blea walked in the bottom of the seventh, but the next three batters struck out to end the game.