ALBUQUERQUE — Rio Rancho’s hopes for a second straight Class 5A baseball championship died in the semifinal round at Lobo Field Thursday afternoon.

With the bases loaded and the game knotted at 8 in the bottom of the eighth inning, shortstop David Waid dove to stop a grounder headed for the outfield but was unable to throw to third in time for the final out and the winning run crossed the plate.

Oñate’s thrilling 9-8 victory sent the Knights (22-8) into Friday evening’s championship game against La Cueva, a 10-2 winner over Eldorado in the other semifinal game. “You guys did a great job,” coach Ron Murphy called out to his players as they gathered their gear after a frustrating finish. “You’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. Pack up, clean out the dugout, leave as a team.”

Played in another un-seasonably cool day, which included high winds, a 50-minute rain-and-lightning delay and even a two-minute rain delay, the contest was a seesaw affair.

The Knights spotted the Rams (26-4) a first-inning run and took the lead with two of their own on a two-out rally in the bottom of the first off starter Anthony Haase.

Ethan Gill doubled home the tying run in the top of the third, but the Knights came back with three in the bottom of that frame, two scoring on a home run by Ariel Perez.

Down 5-2 entering the top of the fourth, the Rams batted around

Blake Swihart opened the inning by reaching on a tough-hop grounder to shortstop. Bryer Mueller drew a walk and Micah Martinez struck out.

Waid singled to center, scoring Swihart. Josh Walker singled home Mueller and Mike Apodaca moved the runners up a base with a sacrifice.

Gill then singled, scoring both runners, and after successive singles by Anthony Haase and Robert Rodela, the Rams had a 7-5 lead.

Oñate scratched back for a run in the bottom of the fourth, using two singles, a walk and a hit batter to make it 7-6 but leaving the bases loaded.

Oñate, which lost a 10-9 game to the Rams in the Las Cruces tournament, scored twice in the bottom of the fifth, when Gill (3-1) relieved Haase. After Gill had walked the first man he faced to load the bases, and the next batter hit a ground ball right back to him. Ignoring a forceout at the plate, Gill opted to try for a 1-6-3 twin killing, which failed. He got the next Knight to end the rally but the damage was done.

“That one ground ball back to the pitcher — we should have gone home with that,” Murphy said. “It was a brain freeze at the moment, I guess, I don’t know. Other than that, I thought our kids played hard, they battled the whole game. Both teams were battling and that’s baseball.”

Rio Rancho tied the game at 8 in the top of the sixth, when Apodaca was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a wild pitch and later crossed the plate on a two-out fielder’s choice off the bat of Swihart.

That controversial play was being talked about the next day. After Haase had drawn a walk, Rodela popped out and Swihart slapped the ball to short, with his throw to second baseman Gabriel Taney arriving in time for the force out, which should have ended the inning. But Taney didn’t step on the base, an umpire ruled, and then Taney threw the ball wildly to third base, allowing Apodaca to score.

Then, with Haase at third representing the go-ahead run, lightning in the area forced the umpires to order a stoppage and the storm led to the 50-minute delay.

Once the game was resumed, Mueller stepped back into the batter’s box and swung at the first pitch from reliever Abe Tarin, striking out and ending the rally.

Neither team scored in the seventh.

The Rams got a leadoff double from Martinez to open the eighth, but he was left there as Waid fanned and Walker and Apodaca each grounded out.

Gill retired the first two Knights in the eighth, the first on a fine sliding catch by left fielder Martinez, and then yielded a triple to Joe Koerper.

Gill intentionally passed Tarin and Perez to load the bases and set up a forceout at any base n proper baseball strategy, especially since the two Knights had combined to drive in four of their team’s runs.

That’s when Vicente Fernandez hit the ball into the hole and Waid came up with the stop, only to throw too late to third as Koerper scored the winning run.

Obviously disappointed his team wouldn’t be playing for all the marbles, Murphy said, “I don’t know how much more we could have done different. Our kids played hard.”

Pitching coach David Bency was proud of the effort Haase, who had thrown more than 100 pitches the previous Friday and Saturday in the first round, had turned in against the Knights.

“Anthony gutted it out,” he said.

Because Haase’s arm had still been sore Wednesday, the Rams turned to junior Alex Wehner in the quarterfinals.

Rams 11, Mayfield 1: Rio Rancho’s third, fourth and fifth hitters in its lineup each went 3 for 4 in a windy, mercy-rule shortened victory over Mayfield in a quarterfinal game.

Windy probably isn’t the best word to describe the frequent gusts, estimated to be in the lower 40 mph range.

“It really didn’t bother me because I knew Alex is a groundball pitcher and this is all we’ve played in all season n high winds,” Murphy said. “The whole Las Cruces tournament we played (in), the wind was blowing just like this. We’re so used to it. It’s the same weather for both teams — you can’t let it affect you.”

The Rams sent 10 batters to the plate in the decisive second inning, when Rodela led off with a home run and Mueller followed with a two-run shot of his own. Gill added a two-run single in the outburst.

Meanwhile, Wehner (8-0) kept the Trojans (20-9) off the scoreboard, inducing mostly ground balls to his infielders.

“It’s really tough but, then again, both pitchers have to pitch in it,” Wehner said. “We have to work on our stuff, learn to work with that wind and find our spots.”

He was helped by nearly flawless work on defense.

“We’ve got some great outfielders so when it’s hit out there, I don’t have anything to worry about,” he said.

The Rams made it a 9-0 game in the fourth, and then got a solo home run from Haase, a double by Rodela and an RBI single by Swihart to go up 11-0 in the sixth.

The Trojans notched their lone run, helped along by a throwing error by Dominic Manno, off Walker, in relief in the bottom of the sixth.

Gill, Haase and Rodela were the 3-4-5 batters for the Rams, accounting for five doubles and six homers, plus a combined six RBIs.

Extra innings: In Wednesday’s other quarterfinal games, Oñate used a six-run seventh, including a walk-off grand slam by Perez, to edge Carlsbad 8-7 while La Cueva whipped Santa Fe 11-0 in five frames and Eldorado held off Valley, 5-2.

… The Rams are now 1-2 in state semifinal games, winning for the only time in 2007 and dropping a 10-5 contest to Alamogordo in 1999, also at Lobo Field, the year they finished fourth.