Rio Rancho steamrolled the Cougars 15-1 as the Rams completed a perfect season in District 1-5A with their 11th win in a row.
A 10-run fourth inning put the game out of reach as the Rams swept their down-the-hill foes. The Cougars, held in check through the first four frames by Alex Wehner (7-0), put together a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly off Anthony Haase, getting some work in the fifth inning. Any hopes Cibola (16-9, 6-3) may have had of scoring five more runs to prevent the game from being shortened via the mercy rule died when Luis Martinez tried to sneak home from third base when a pitch got past catcher Chris Wallis with two outs.
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Wallis had one of the big hits in the rout, a bases-clearing double in the second inning.
As if that wasn’t enough runs, the 10-run outburst in the fourth, when 14 batters came to the plate, was more than enough.
The Rams, 22-3 in the regular season, have until next Friday to get ready for the best-of-three first round of the state playoffs. They won’t know their seed, although RRHS was No. 1 in the latest coaches association poll, until the seeding committee meets Sunday afternoon.
Not about to take any chances on facing someone they know nothing about, coach Ron Murphy and his coaching staff headed to games last weekend and will head to games in Las Cruces and the southeast part of the state this weekend to do some serious scouting.
After winning their second consecutive district crown and hoping to repeat as Class 5A’s state champs, the Rams are at the same point as they were at a year ago, said pitching coach David Bency.
Bency said whatever ailed Wehner in the first game of a doubleheader against Gallup on April 26 had been put behind him, while the Rams got a strong outing from Ethan Gill (2-0) last Tuesday against West Mesa.
With Robert Rodela (4-0) touted as the team’s most consistent starter and UNM-signed Haase (6-2), the Rams have plenty of depth on the mound for the state tournament.
It’s unknown if they can match their three-game playoff run last season, when they beat Carlsbad, Onate and Mayfield and didn’t commit any errors, but their hitting can’t be questioned.
“Every facet of our game is strong,” Bency said.
Murphy said last weekend that he needed his kids to swing the sticks in every position in the batting order, which he tweaked at Cibola to allow sophomore Josh Walker to bat in the lead-off position and senior David Waid to bat ninth. Both have good speed and the knack to get aboard, so it’s like having two leadoff batters.
“It worked out great today,” Murphy said.
“Josh Walker in the leadoff role set the tone,” he said. “His first time up, he saw eight pitches and hit a double.”
The Rams have scored 10 or more runs in four of their last six games.
Pleased with the 11-game streak of success and their next game not scheduled until next Friday, Murphy gave his players the weekend off.
Extra innings: Murphy said that although he hoped to find a team to play 26 games are permissable by the NMAA nobody wanted to play the Rams, concerned their seed would be harmed if they lost.
Other teams nailing down playoff berths by going 1-2 in their districts are La Cueva and Valley in 2-5A, Oρate and Mayfield in 3-5A, Carlsbad in 4-5A, and Eldorado and Rio Grande in 5-5A. Hobbs and Clovis are below .500 in 4-5A and have yet to decide the runner-up spot. Six other teams, including Santa Fe, which hasn’t been in the postseason since 1977 but has victories over the Rams, La Cueva and Valley, will be added to the 16-team tournament.
The Class 5A quarterfinals will be played May 21 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at Lobo Field and RRHS, although the Rams, if they win in the first round, won’t be allowed to play on their own field. The semifinals will be played May 22 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at Lobo Field. The 5A championship game is at Isotopes Park at 7 p.m. on May 23.
By winning percentage (.880), this is the best season in Rams history. If they win the 5A title, they’ll have 27 victories, which would be a record, too.
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