Baseball tournament begins this week

High school baseball’s first season is over. Bring on the second season.

The regular season ended Saturday for 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A teams, and the state-tournament seedings were released a day later. Texico, with its 23-2 record, is the highest local seed — No. 1 in 3A.

Clovis (21-5) had been hoping for a top seed in 6A, but that went out the window after the WIldcats were swept at La Cueva (22-2) in Saturday’s doubleheader. The ’Cats are seeded fourth in 6A, with the Bears not surprisingly getting the No. 1 seed.

Portales (16-10) received the fourth seed in 4A, with Hope Christian (20-6) seeded first in that class.

Clovis opens first-round play on Friday, with a 7 p.m. game against 13th-seeded Manzano, followed by a Saturday doubleheader. All that series’ games will be held at Bell Park.

If past is prologue, the Wildcats should fare well against the Monarchs after having swept the two regular-season games, 2-0 and 18-0, during their 45-inning opponents scoreless streak. If the ’Cats do prevail this weekend, they move on to the quarterfinals on Thursday of next week, in which they would play the winner between fifth-seeded Carlsbad and 12th-seeded Mayfield at the University of New Mexico. The quarterfinal game is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start.

La Cueva is hosting 16th-seeded Astrisco Heritage Academy this weekend with the winner of that series moving on to play the Cleveland-Rio Grande winner next Thursday.

In other first-round 6A matchups: second-seeded Centennial hosts 15th-seeded Albuquerque; third-seeded Piedra Vista is hosting 14th-seeded Sandia; sixth-seeded Volcano Vista hosts 11th-seeded Hobbs; and seventh-seeded Rio Rancho is hosting 10th-seeded Eldorado.

The Piedra Vista/Sandia vs. Volcano Vista-Hobbs winners play their quarterfinal at UNM next Thursday (7 p.m.). The other two quarterfinals will be held at Albuquerque’s Isotopes Park at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.

The quarterfinal winners play semifinals the following day (May 11) at Albuquerque’s Isotopes Park, with the championship scheduled for the same stadium a day after that. So a state champion will be crowned in just a week and a half from now, barring rainouts.

Goddard is the top seed in 5A.

In 4A, Portales hosts 13th-seeded West Las Vegas on Friday at 7 p.m., with the series concluding on Saturday. This weekend’s winner moves on to a 10 a.m. quarterfinal next Thursday at Rio Rancho High School, and will take on the winner of the fifth-seeded New Mexico Military Institute and 12th-seeded Santa Fe Indian series.

Top-seeded Hope gets 16th-seeded Navajo Prep this weekend, with the winner moving on to next Wednesday’s quarterfinal round, facing the winner of the Cobre (8)-Shiprock (9) series.

If Portales and Hope Christian are on a quarterfinal collision course, it could bode well for the Rams, who were 2-1 against Hope during the regular season, winning 13-3 and 2-0 before losing 13-10.

The other 4A first-round series are: second-seeded Silver vs. 15th-seeded Socorro; third-seeded Robertson vs. 14th-seeded Sandia Prep; sixth-seeded Bernalillo vs. 11th-seeded East Mountain; and seventh-seeded St. Michael’s vs. 10th-seeded Taos.

All the 4A quarterfinal games will be played at Rio Rancho. The winners play semifinals the following day (May 11) at UNM, and the winners of those games square off the day after that for the championship at Isotopes Park (noon).

In 3A, Texico hosts 16th-seeded Zuni on Wednesday at 4 p.m. Playing simultaneously are eighth-seeded McCurdy and ninth-seeded Laguna Acoma, with the winner of that game playing the Texico-Zuni winner the following Wednesday (May 9) at Cleveland High School, where all the 3A quarters will take place. The Wolverines, if they make it there, would play at 10 a.m.

The semifinals, scheduled for the following day, will also be held at Cleveland High School. And the next day’s championship game will be noon at Isotopes Park.

In other 3A matchups: second-seeded Estancia hosts 15th-seeded Santa Fe Prep; third-seeded Santa Rosa will host 14th-seeded Loving; sixth-seeded Dexter hosts 11th-seeded Pecos; and seventh-seeded Raton will host 10th-seeded Tucumcari.