BASEBALL: Chaps bounce back to split series versus NMMI
Midland College baseball coach Hector Rodriguez challenged his team to bring a championship response to Saturday’s doubleheader against New Mexico Military Institute after suffering a sweep the day before.
By Oscar LeRoy
Midland Reporter-Telegram
MIDLAND, TEXAS - Midland College baseball coach Hector Rodriguez challenged his team to bring a championship response to Saturday's doubleheader against New Mexico Military Institute after suffering a sweep the day before.
The Chaparrals responded with a sweep of their own as they bounced back from an early deficit in the first game for an 11-4 victory, and then held off the Broncos for a 5-4 victory in second game to come away with a 2-2 split in the series at Christensen Stadium.
In Friday's games, the Chaps (21-11, 8-4 in Western Junior College Athletic Conference) spoiled a great outing from starter Luke Young with a 1-0 loss in eight innings. Then the Chaps had a bad second game in a 20-9 loss that ended in a run rule after seven innings.
"I told them that if they want to pursue a championship and be a championship-caliber type club, (Friday) wasn't a championship-type day," Rodriguez said. "The challenge was, if that's who you want to be, you have to have a championship response. And I thought we did."
"It was huge," said MC freshman shortstop Frayner Chavez of the series split. "We had a bad game (on Friday) and we came here to compete and even the series. That was our goal and we did it."
NMMI (18-13, 4-4) picked up where it left off with three runs in the top of the first Saturday's first game.
MC got two runs back in the second inning, three more in the third and then broke it open with a four-run fourth after Chris Garcia plated two with a single and then and outfield error helped both Caleb Heuertz and Garcia score for 9-4 advantage.
"They scored three runs early against (MC starter Luis Rodriguez) but he settled and gave us a quality start," Rodriguez said. "Then offensively, we kind of waited around, waited around until we finally got a couple of big hits and we were able to take advantage of some opportunities with some free bases."
Tyler Wulfert and Gibrian Peña each had two hits, Hudson Parker added a double and two RBI, and Luke Bumpus drove in two runs for the Chaps.
Rhett Stokes led NMMI by going 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
Rodriguez got the win after he allowed four runs on 10 hits, with one walk and seven strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.
The Broncos again jumped out in front with a run in the top of the first inning of the series finale against MC starter Jarek Wells, before MC responded in the second inning on a Luke Bumpus RBI single.
Rodriguez tipped his hat with the way the Broncos kept the pressure with their offense this weekend.
"Stat-wise, they're hitting .275 as a team, but man I thought they did a good job with their approach just hitting bad pitches," he said. "We made a bunch of bad pitches and they took advantage of it. Today, they were ready to play and they had a chance to win the series or sweep. They didn't back off and they were ready to play today."
The game was tied at 2-all through five innings when Chavez (4-for-5) singled to score Bumpus to give the Chaps the lead for good, 3-2.
"It was big," said Chavez of his team responding. "They got a lead early but we trust the process, we trust our guys. We leave it to the next guy to get a big hit after somebody else gets on base."
The Chaps added a couple of insurance runs in the seventh on a Garcia RBI triple and a Parker RBI double.
NMMI made things interesting in the ninth when they took advantage of three wild pitches from reliever Heuertz before the second-year right-hander from San Angelo got a swinging strikeout to earn the save and secure the series split.
Even Hebert got the win in relief of Jarek Wells after he allowed just one hit, walked one and struck out five over three scoreless frames.
Heuertz was also 3-for-4 at the plate with a double and a triple, while Garcia and Garrett Williams each had two hits.
Coming back and winning two games was big for the Chaps who next have a home-and-home series against rival Odessa College beginning with a noon Friday doubleheader in Odessa.
"This gives us momentum," Rodriguez said. "After (Friday) everyone was down. The players were disappointed with how they played, the coaching staff was disappointed in how we played. Hopefully you can carry the momentum. We need to have a good week of practice and get ready for Odessa, who is a quality opponent. It's a fun rivalry. I know they'll be ready to go and we'll be too."
Chavez said the last two wins has his team feeling good going into next weekend's series.
"We need to continue to trust in the process and believe in this team," he said. "If we do our job, I think we'll be fine."
Follow Oscar on Twitter: @OLeRoy_MRT
First Game
MIDLAND COLLEGE 11, NEW MEXICO MILITARY INSTITUTE 4
NMMI 300 100 0 -- 4 10 2
Midland 023 402 x -- 11 9 0
Adrian Rubio, Marc Rios (3), Demitrius DiMatteo (6) and Diego Solis. Luis Rodriguez, Aaron Molina (6) and Hudson Parker. W – Rodriguez. L – Rubio.. 2B – NMMI: Guillermo Borquez, Rhett Stokes; MC: Parker.
Second game
MIDLAND COLLEGE 5, NEW MEXICO M ILITARY INSTITUTE 4
NMMI 100 100 002 -- 4 10 0
Midland 011 001 20x -- 5 15 0
Jose Cabanillas, Julian Lopez (5), Saul Rocha (6), Leando Tamaki (7) and Solis. Jarek Wells, Evan Hebert (6), Caleb Heuertz (9) and Ryan Blackwell. W – Hebert. L – Lopez. Sv. – Heuertz. 2B – NMMI: Ryan Flake. Borquez. Trotter Boston 2; MC: Blackwell, Heuertz, Parker. 3B – MC: Heuertz, Chris Garcia
FRIDAY:
NMMI sweeps Chaps in doubleheader
Staff Report
Midland Reporter-Telegram
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Midland College catcher Ryan Blackwell on a close play at the plate versus New Mexico Military Institute at Christensen Stadium. |
MIDLAND, TEXAS - The Midland College baseball team got swept in a doubleheader by New Mexico Military Institute at Christensen Stadium on Friday.
The Broncos won a low-scoring first game, 1-0, but then run-ruled the Chaparrals, 20-9, after seven innings in the second game.
NMMI (18-11, 4-2 in Western Junior College Athletic Conference) scored the only run of the first game in the top of the eighth inning on an RBI single by Rhett Stokes (3-for-4)
The loss spoiled a great pitching performance from MC starter Luke Young, who allowed five hits, walked one and struck out 11 in eight innings.
Jorge Garcia Villalon and Albert Oliva Velez combined to allow just six hits in the shutout. Olivia Velez got the win after 2/3 perfect innings of relief.
Ryan Blackwell had two doubles, while Garrett Williams had two hits and a double for the Chaps (19-11, 6-4).
The Broncos had 21 hits and scored in all but one inning in the second game.
Stokes, Jesh Leckey ad Diego Solis homered for NMMI, while Armando Ramirez and Guillermo Borquez each had two doubles. Leckey, Stokes and Logan Choi also doubled for the Broncos.
MC had nine hits in the game and also committed four errors.
Caleb Heuertz was 2-for-4 with two RBI and run scored, while Tyler Wulfert drive in two runs for MC.
Alizaeh Gutierrez took the loss for MC, which used seven pitchers in the game.
Drew Price picked up the win for NMMI.
The teams resume the series with another doubleheader at Christensen Stadium beginning at noon Saturday.