Errors cost Rams championship

CMI CORRESPONDENT

ALBUQUERQUE — It was a tale of two defenses in the Class 4A state baseball title game Saturday morning at Santa Ana Star Field, with the Portales Rams making seven errors in the field en route to a 13-0 thumping at the hands of top-seeded and defending champion Sandia Prep.

The poor defensive performance came at the worst time for Portales (23-7), which had held opponents to five runs total in four tournament games entering the championship bout and came in on a school-record 20-game winning streak.

Correspondent photo: Nick Fojud

Senior Grant Wagner strikes his bat in frustration on the ground after being stuck out by a Sandia Preparatory Saturday at Santa Ana Star Field in the Class 4A title game. Portales lost to Sandia Preparatory 13-0.

“We didn’t play like that defensively all year,” Rams coach Dusty Nusser said. “That was kind of an usual defensive game for us. We’d (normally) make one or two (errors), but then get back to playing pretty good baseball.”

Mose of the miscues came back to haunt Portales. Multiples times, routine ground balls would overthrow first baseman Grant Wagner, and runners on the basepaths would capitalize.

The miscues were especially costly in the seventh, where three errors led to a six-run inning against Draven Saiz, who lasted only two-thirds of an inning. That effectively sealed Portales’ fate as their middle of the lineup went down in a quick 1-2-3 in their last outs.

Rams pitching only had one three-batter inning of its own, and even then pitcher Josiah Lucero needed a double play to get out of the fifth unscathed.

Sandia Prep’s Beau Williams led off that inning with a single and promptly stole second. The next batter hit a comebacker to Lucero, who snagged the ball and quickly fired it to second baseman Chris Aranda, cutting down Williams before he made it back to the bag.

Every inning provided some kind of trouble for the Rams. Of Sandia Prep’s 43 total plate appearances in the game, 26 were with runners in scoring position.

Sandia Prep coach Paul Huitt said it was vital that his squad never took the foot off the gas.

“Any time you play a baseball game, anything can happen,” he said. “Even a five, seven, eight, nine-run lead is not safe.”

In stark contrast to the Rams, the Sundevils (27-4) were sterling in the field and on the mound, making only one error.

On the hill, Joe Martinez dominated from start to finish, pitching seven innings of two-hit ball with no walks and three strikeouts.

“Anytime you get in a championship situation, momentum is big,” Huitt said. “We had Joe on the mound controlling the momentum and never allowing it to get into their dugout.”

The lone hits by Portales were singles in the second and third innings by Aranda and starting pitcher Jacob Salgado, respectively.

“It was kind of one those days,” Nusser said. “One wheel fell off … typically we were able to put it back on, but today we couldn’t.”

Portales, whose starting lineup had four seniors, was one win away from taking its first state title since 2012.