THS baseball team ends season of improvement

The Tucumcari baseball team closed its regular season with a 13-3 district loss Saturday against visiting East Mountain.

The Rattlers trailed just 2-1 lead after three innings, but the Timberwolves scored four in the fourth, three in the fifth and four in the sixth to win by the 10-run mercy rule.

Tucumcari finished its season with a 5-18 mark overall and 1-14 in district play. The Rattlers did not qualify for the playoffs.

The Rattlers continued to improve, quintupling their overall victories from last season and snapping a 47-game losing streak in district play that dated to 2018.

“We grew as a ball club from the previous year, and I feel that’s the best thing we can take away from it,” Tucumcari coach George Montano said. “We did things that haven’t been done in a few years, and it may not feel like an accomplishment on the outside, but on the inside, it’s huge.

“Statistically, we improved; record-wise, we improved. We’ve made a big jump in two years, and I feel we’re only going to continue to climb back up to where I feel we should be. They love the game of baseball, they want to win, they want to start off-season workouts for next year within the next month or so.

“We’re going to get back where we used to be. I feel it coming sooner than what the outsiders probably think.”

Tucumcari loses just two seniors from its squad — Xzander Garcia and Billy Otero.

“They showed up every day to practice to get things going,” Montano said. “They both played multiple positions throughout the season and never complained about anywhere we asked them to play because they knew if it gave us a shot to win, they were up for it. I wished we had them longer than what we did.”

East Mountain improved to 13-11 overall and 8-7 in district play for fourth place.

Sandia Prep (17-6) won the regular season district title with a 13-2 mark, just edging defending Class 3A champion New Mexico Military Institute (21-4, 12-3).

Sandia Prep earned the No. 1 seed in the Class 3A tournament, with NMMI as No. 2.

NMMI 15, Tucumcari 1

The Colts took a double-digit lead after two innings and cruised to a 15-1 district victory last Tuesday over visiting Tucumcari.

Otero scored Tucumcari’s only run in the third inning. He went 2-for-3. Juano Martinez, who went 2-for-2, tallied the Rattlers’ lone RBI.

New Mexico Military Institute used three pitchers in the five-inning victory, allowing six hits.

The Rattlers committed six errors, leading to eight unearned runs. Otero took the loss in 2 2/3 innings, and Garcia mopped up in relief.