Bulldogs outslug Wildcats

CMI staff

RIO RANCHO — Clovis High’s baseball team hit the ball well enough to win Friday. The Wildcats had trouble keeping Artesia in check.

The Bulldogs broke the game open with an eight-run fourth to hand CHS a 13-4 loss in the consolation semifinals of the Rio Rancho Invitational. CHS (4-6) faces Roswell Goddard, a 6-5 loser on Friday to St. Pius, for seventh place at 9 a.m. today.

The Cats put together nine hits, including 3-for-3 outings from Joseph Ramos and Peyton Lott, but made four errors and stranded eight runners to give them 20 left on base in the first two games of the tournament.

“We’re hitting the ball pretty good,” CHS coach Shane Leatherwood said. “Our approach is pretty good, but everybody seems to make good plays against us to get that third out and we’re not doing that.”

Zane Pittam led a 10-hit Artesia attack, going 4-for- 4 with a double, a triple and three RBIs.

“We struggled a little bit throwing strikes,” Leatherwood said. “We had two opportunities to get out of the fourth inning, but we made errors.”

The Cats scored on RBI singles by Lott in the first, Brody Edwards in the second and Antonio Hicks in the fifth, while Ramos belted a third-inning solo home run to pull CHS to 5-3.

Artesia took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the first, helped by two wild pitches and two passed balls.