Texico tops Tucumcari, 21-0

TUCUMCARI — Talk about no rest for the weary.

Then again, Texico’s baseball team seemed far from weary on Saturday. The Wolverines were more energized than anything else.

Texico ventured to Tucumcari Saturday and routed the Rattlers 21-0 in five innings, fueled by a combined no-hitter and 11 strikeouts from starter Ben Crist and reliever Cian Holmes, plus a 19-hit offensive attack. All that occurred following a quick turnaround from Friday night’s home doubleheader against Estancia, which the teams split.

Texico had dropped the first of Friday’s twinbill before run-ruling the second one, 10-0. And that momentum seemed to spill over.

“I think it continued into this game,” Texico coach Ty Thatcher said. “We just continued to get base hits and ball-fours through the lineup. ... Everybody contributed to that first inning. We got through the lineup several times with pretty hard-hit balls.”

There were enough of those hard-hit balls to plate nine runs in the top of the first inning, five in the third and two in the fourth. Even by the fifth inning, Texico was still rolling, adding five more runs, thanks in large part to Nathan Phipps’ three-run homer, a no-doubter to left field despite a wind blowing in from that direction.

“So it was well-struck,” Thatcher said. “That one got out in a hurry.”

Perhaps even more impressive was the pitching of Crist (7-0) and Holmes, who recorded 11 of the 15 Tucumcari outs via strikeout. Two other outs were tallied by catcher Robin Winton, who was 2-for-2 in the caught-stealing department, which helped erase walks. The only other two outs were 1-to-3 comebackers to the pitcher.

Nate Phipps wound up with five RBIs on the day, matching Dalton Thatcher’s five. Thatcher was 3-for-5, including a triple and a double, just a homer shy of the cycle.

Luke Phipps and Winton had three RBIs apiece, with Phipps going 3-for-4 and Winton 2-for-4.

The Wolverines also played error-free baseball.

Texico (18-2, 7-0 district) will host New Mexico Military Institute on Monday, then entertain Santa Rosa on Tuesday, with both games scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.

“We’ve got a stretch here,” Coach Thatcher said, “where we’re going to get tested.”