Texico completes charge to another 3A state title

ALBUQUERQUE — The Texico High Wolverines almost made it look too easy.

If you think that's something, they're only graduating one player from this year's Class 3A state baseball championship team.

Texico completed its rampage against 3A competition on Friday, crushing Capitan 20-3 in the finals at Isotopes Park for its second consecutive title. With all but one player on the roster slated to come back, you can probably pencil in the Wolverines as the favorite for next year.

Texico outscored its four state tournament foes by a whopping 67-7 margin.

"I'm just proud of them," coach Ty Thatcher said of his squad. "They did an excellent job all year, and had an excellent season."

Thatcher pointed to the Wolverines' unselfishness as a key to their success.

"We talked about being that team that was a little different," he said. "They definitely put 'team' first."

Texico (25-3) overcame fielding woes (six errors), scoring multiple runs in all five innings of the run-rule contest. Junior Ben Crist's two-run single keyed a four-run first, and the Wolverines added seven runs in the third — highlighted by sophomore Cole Rohrbach's two-run triple — to all but put the game out of reach.

Junior right-hander Nathan Phipps allowed just two hits and three runs (one earned) in 3 1/3 innings before younger brother Luke Phipps finished.

Thatcher said playing on Rio Rancho Cleveland's turf field in the quarterfinals and semifinals forced the Wolverines to adjust to the grass surface at Isotopes Park, perhaps accounting for some of the defensive faux pas.

"The turf gives you a perfect bounce (on ground balls)," he said.

Crist finished 4-for-4 with three RBIs while sophomore shortstop Dalton Thatcher, the coach's son, drove in three runs with a fourth-inning double and a sacrifice fly. He also walked twice and scored three times.

The Tigers (13-10) were seeded seventh in the tournament, but got to the finals with wins over second-seeded Santa Rosa and No. 3 Estancia, shutting out the Bears 3-0 on Friday.

Junior Price Bowen, the team's top pitcher, had been used up going into the finals.

"He's really impressive," Ty Thatcher said. "I definitely didn't want to see Capitan in the quarterfinals."

Losing pitcher John Rogers accounted for two of Capitan's three hits in the game.