Longhorns repeat as champs

Rematch, and repeat.

Logan's second-seeded baseball team on Saturday faced top-seed Gateway Christian for the second straight year in the Class 1A championship game at Santa Ana Star Field in Albuquerque.

Again, the Longhorns came away with the victory - this time, an 11-4 decision where they rallied for six runs in the final inning to leave little doubt of the outcome.

Logan third baseman Skyler DeLuca caught a pop fly in foul territory for the final out, prompting several teammates to throw their gloves in the air, then join in a celebratory dogpile near the bag.

Longhorns starting pitcher Kaeden Stoner earned his second victory in as many days, striking out 11 while allowing three hits, three walks and three earned runs in 5 1/3 innings. He helped his cause with his bat with three hits, three runs scored and two RBI.

Colton Liles and Mason Wallin also drove in two runs for the Longhorns. Brock Burns earned the save with 1 2/3 innings of relief.

Gateway Christian (15-5) received the top seed in the tournament primarily because the Warriors beat the Longhorns in two of three games during the regular season.

Logan coach Kyle Griffiths said the big difference between Saturday and a few weeks ago was his players getting hits when they needed them.

"The main thing for us was we were able to manufacture runs," he said. "Pitching-wise, we've been fine in every game we've played against them. I think just being able to score runs, hit the ball and get guys on base, to me, was the difference."

That ability to grab an extra run showed in the first inning. Aydin Kotara walked, Stoner singled and Park Strong drew a walk. Wallin grounded into a fielder's choice at second base to score Kotara, but Stoner alertly kept running and scored all the way from second when the infielders apparently weren't paying attention to him. Wallin tallied two RBI with his groundout.

"That gave us some confidence," Griffiths said.

The Warriors narrowed the gap to 2-1 in the second when Ethaniel Wigley walked and scored on Hurley Breedyk's double.

Logan added three runs in the fifth on Stoner's RBI double and Burns' run-scoring single. Liles scored on a wild pitch.

Gateway closed the gap to 5-2 in the bottom of the fifth on a walk, a single and a fielder's choice.

In the top of the sixth, Stoner left the mound after a walk and a strikeout put him at his 80-pitch limit. Burns relieved and notched a strikeout but walked Asa Shaw. Breedyk lofted a bloop single near the right-field line to drive in two and make it a 5-4 game.

Logan didn't panic. In the top of the seventh, leadoff batter Kotara reached base on a dropped third strike.

"That's a big help, getting our speed guy on," Griffiths said. "We feel pretty confident we can get him around (to score)."

Kotara stole second and went to third on a throwing error. Stoner drove him home with a single.

Strong singled, and Burns walked. DeLuca and Diego Sanchez then each delivered RBI singles for a 9-4 lead.

Gateway changed pitchers, but Liles hit a two-run single for an 11-4 advantage.

Griffiths gave brief remarks to his players after the Warriors made it a one-run game in the sixth but credited them for their big rally in the top of the seventh.

"The only thing I told them when they came into the huddle was, 'Hey, we're in good shape. Let's go get a few (runs) more to finish the game,'" he said. "They came out and responded on their own. It wasn't anything magical that I said to them. I don't know if I can take a lot of credit for that.

"It was a morale-booster for us," he added. "It made that last inning a lot more comfortable."

Burns pitched a 1-2-3 final inning for the Longhorns, punctuated by DeLuca's putout.

Griffiths praised Burns' intestinal fortitude as a reliever during the tournament.

"Brock Burns was brought into two really difficult situations on both games, to come in and close them out," he said. "I was proud the way he came in and finished them. Kaeden gets the win and most of the glory, but being that guy to come in and close a game, that's a tough position to be in. He deserves a lot of credit, as well."

Logan 10, Melrose 6

Defensive breakdowns led the Longhorns' previous loss to the Buffaloes on April 29.

On Friday, defense proved to be a friend for Logan during a 10-6 victory over their district rival in the Class 1A semifinals at Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho.

The Longhorns' defense helped keep the third-seeded Buffaloes off the scoreboard for the first three innings as Logan staked a 6-0 lead. Their strong defense also kept Melrose (10-8) at bay in the final innings, when Logan rallied for four runs to seal the victory.

One prime example of Logan's glove magic occurred in the second inning. Melrose had a runner on third base with two outs. Briar Larson hit a sharp grounder near the second-base hole. Logan second baseman Colton Liles dove, snagged the ball with his glove, scrambled to his feet and fired a throw to first to nail the batter by a half-step to save a run.

Griffiths praised his team for its defense after the game.

"That's what I just told them out there: Defense won the game today," he said. "We made some big plays. We caught some big grounders, caught some big pop flies. To me, that was the difference in the game, keeping them from scoring some runs."

Melrose coach Lane Draper agreed.

"They played clean in the field, a lot cleaner than we did, and I thought that was the difference in the game," he said. "All of our errors resulted in runs. If we clean that up, we'd have a chance to win the game. But they were the better team today."

Logan struck first in the opening inning when Stoner singled and Wallin drove him home with a double into the right-field gap. Wallin scored on Burns' single and an error by the left fielder for a 2-0 lead.

The Longhorns made it 6-0 in the third on four hits, two walks and two errors.

During Melrose's next turn at bat, the Buffaloes tallied six runs on five hits, two walks, one hit batter and two throwing errors to tie the game at 6-6 and chase starting pitcher Strong from the game.

Griffiths brought in his ace, Stoner, who put out the fire with a strikeout to end the inning.

Stoner, restricted to a 40-pitch count so he could pitch again Saturday, pitched the next three innings and earned the win when his teammates rallied. He struck out six and allowed just two hits.

"I'm glad we had to make them have some tough pitching decisions because of pitch count," Draper said. "We knew we were doing something right when they brought in Stoner; he's the best pitcher in Class 1A. He did what Kaeden Stoner does; we got a couple of hits off him, but we left runners on."

Logan took an 8-6 lead in the fourth, fueled by a Burns RBI single and three Melrose errors. Logan expanded the lead to 10-6 with run-scoring singles by Strong and Burns.

"The guys stepped up and hit the ball," Griffiths said. "We manufactured some runs, and we definitely needed them in this game. Melrose came to play."

When Stoner reached his pitch limit, Burns relieved him on the mound with two out in the final inning. Burns walked the first batter he faced, but struck out the next to end the game and send Logan into the finals.