Box Score LAS VEGAS, N.M. – The Cowboys were able to answer every score by the Grizzlies on Saturday (April 19) as the New Mexico Highlands Baseball Team (25-16, 22-9 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) won its fifth – and third consecutive – conference series as it knocked off Adam State (13-29, 11-20 RMAC) 7-5 Saturday afternoon (April 18) in Las Vegas, N.M.
The win clinched a spot for the Cowboys in the RMAC Baseball Tournament.
The Cowboys put the pressure on Adams State early, scoring two runs in its first three batters. Junior
Andrew Ratterman, who led the team with three hits and four runs scored, led off the game with a single. Junior
Joe Cervantes found the gap in right center and motored to third base for his second triple of the year. Redshirt junior
Matthew Chavez flew out deep to left on the very next pitch to score Chavez.
With three sacrifice flies on the day, Highlands hit five RBI flies in the series against Adams State and has 24 for the season.
Adams State scored a pair in the second to tie the game, but it only took five pitches before senior
Javier Ledford untied it. Junior
Justin Rodriguez was hit by a pitch before Ledford nailed the scoreboard on a 1-1 pitch for his seventh home run of the year– and his third this series. Highlands led 4-2 after two innings.
After both teams failed to score in the next three innings, both teams had a pair of runners cross home plate in the sixth. Now tied at four going into the bottom of the sixth, Ratterman led off the inning with a single to first. The first baseman fielded it cleanly, but the pitcher was slow in covering. Cervantes then singled through the right side to allow Ratterman to advance to third. On a pitch that was low, Cervantes took off for second and Ratterman immediately broke for home as the Cowboys successfully pulled off the double steal.
A groundout moved the runner to third before junior
Morgan McCasland flew out to right center to put the Cowboys up two.
The Grizzlies managed a single tally in the eighth and had the tying run on third with two outs, but senior
Ben Ruff got Zach Moldenhauer to strike out looking to preserve the lead.
Chavez drove in an insurance run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth and Ruff struck out the side around a pair of walks in the ninth to pick up his fifth save of the year.
On the mound for the Cowboys, senior
Braulio Hernandez picked up a win in his first decision of the year. He allowed two hits and one run while striking out four in 2.1 innings of work.
Adams State tied the game in the second when Drew Wells, Dillon Bollig and Marco Garmendia singled to begin the inning to cut the deficit to 2-1. A sacrifice bunt and a groundout tied the game. The Grizzlies looked like it might take the lead in the sixth when an error and a pair of walks was followed by Wells' two-RBI single to tie the game. A sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position, but Hernandez came in and got a punch out and a pop up.
The middle of the line-up in Wells, Bollig and Garmendia had two hits apiece, but the rest of the order only had one hit for the Grizzlies. Ryan Richardson took the loss in his first decision of the season, allowing six hits and two runs in 2.2 innings thrown.
The Cowboys take to the road for their final road series of the season next weekend (April 25-27) when the travel to Pueblo, Colo., for four games against the ThunderWolves.
