AREA PREPS: Bronchos rally to split with Buffs

GRADY – The Grady Bronchos belted three home runs and erased a seven-run deficit to top Melrose 14-10 on Thursday and earn a split of their District 3-1A baseball doubleheader.

Grady (7-8, 1-5 district) ended a seven-game losing streak and kept its hopes for a berth in the six-team Class 1A state tournament alive. Melrose (8-3, 4-2), ranked second in Class 1A, posted an 11-1 win in five innings in the opener.

Sophomore Deakin Ragland hit a solo homer in the first inning of Game 2, and eighth-grader Andre Garcia and junior Zane Rush blasted two-run shots in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively. Grady trailed 8-1 after 2 ½ innings, but took the lead with four in the bottom of the third and six in the fourth.

Ragland scored three times and finished 4-for-5 for the Bronchos. Garcia also doubled in four at-bats and finished with three runs scored, while Rush pitched five innings and ended up 3-for-4 with a double.

Sophomore Cy Draper led the Melrose attack, going 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a run scored.

In the first tilt, junior Michael Cardonita pitched a six-hitter, striking out six, while sophomores Josiah Roybal and Brian Larson were both 2-for-3 and junior Rykar Loomis added 2-for-4. Roybal had a double and scored three times, while Larson drove in three runs and Loomis scored twice and added two RBIs.

Ragland went 7-for-8 for the day, including 3-for-3 in the opener.

Santa Rosa 10-11, Texico 0-1 (Tuesday) – The Lions (20-3, 8-0 district), who swept a doubleheader at Pecos on Thursday, made short work of the Wolverines in their District 6-2A twin bill at Santa Rosa.

They ended the opener on the 10-run rule with a run in the bottom of the sixth. Junior Jykub Gage hurled a three-hit shutout for Santa Rosa, with senior Tristan Chavez going 2-for-3 with a triple and senior Bryson Crow finishing 1-for-3 with a triple for Texico (6-9, 2-3).

Santa Rosa collected eight hits, with sophomore Daniel Zamora going 3-for-4 with a double, three runs scored and an RBI. Junior Nicolas Chavez was 2-for-3 with a double, two runs and two RBIs.

In the second game, Texico got its only run in the top of the fifth to make it 10-1 and keep the game alive, but Santa Rosa countered with a run in the bottom half to end it on the 10-run rule.

Gage led the Lions with 3-for-4, an RBI and three runs scored while sophomore Josiah Barela limited Texico to five hits.

Eighth-grader Jesus Davalos went 2-for-2 while junior Kyle Gonser was 2-for-3 for the Wolverines, who were slated for three district games at Clayton on Saturday before ending the regular campaign with a non-league twin bill against Eunice at home on Monday and a single district clash at Pecos on Thursday.

Gateway Christian 11-19, Dora 0-0 (Friday) – The District 2-1A-leading Warriors (8-7, 6-0) pulled away late in the first game, scoring eight runs over the final three innings. Sophomores Ethaniel Wigley and Rayf Fulkerson combined for five hits for Gateway, each driving in three runs.

The Coyotes (2-9, 2-6) were held to four singles by Wigley, with senior Kegan Rodriguez finishing 2-for-4.

In Game 2, the Warriors plated seven runs in the first and six in the second en route to a five-inning victory. Gateway collected 14 hits, with senior Hayden Wigley going 3-for-4 with two doubles, four RBIs and three runs scored and eighth-grader Grady Munson finishing 3-for-4 with a double, tallying three times and driving in one.

Sophomores Aaron Combs and Ashton Davis and eighth-grader Rylan Harris each had a single for Dora.

Dora 18, Floyd 15 (Thursday) – Also at Dora, the Coyotes (2-7, 2-4) held off Floyd (1-11, 1-6), which rallied to make it close with a five-run seventh. Davis went 4-for-5 with a double, four RBIs and a run scored for Dora, while sophomore Roddy Neal was 4-for-6 with a double, scoring three times and driving in three.