JT Keith
For a team that had been in big games all year, the Bulldogs handled Saturday the same way they handled everything else — with no panic, no excuses, and no quit. But in the game that mattered most, Artesia finally ran out of answers.
Goddard beat Artesia 11-6 on Saturday at Lobo Baseball Field in Albuquerque to claim the 2026 Nusenda Credit Union Class 4A state baseball championship.
That ending did not erase what Artesia had done to get there. The Bulldogs fought through a slow start, climbed to No. 1 in Class 4A, and beat Goddard in the regular-season finale to lock up the District 4-4A championship.
By the time the state tournament arrived, Artesia looked like a club that knew exactly who it was. The Bulldogs survived a 3-2 quarterfinal against St. Pius X and pushed ace Jack Byers to within two batters of his 120-pitch limit just to keep the season moving.
Then came Deming, a team that had beaten Artesia earlier in the season. This time, the Bulldogs answered with a 7-4 semifinal win and one more shot at a blue trophy.
In the final, Artesia was tied at 3 before Goddard seized control. Cameron Brown doubled, and Marcos Rodriguez followed with a home run, and from there the Rockets kept the pressure on.
Artesia never solved Goddard starter Jadon Herrera, who went five innings, gave up six hits, struck out five, and walked none.
A five-run seventh inning put the game out of reach, but it did not change the way this Artesia team will be remembered.
Artesia came into the spring as the defending state champion and spent the season carrying those expectations. Now the Bulldogs lose eight seniors and turn the page in the dugout. Jackson Bickel is moving into administration and will serve as assistant principal at Artesia High School next season.
The search is expected to begin immediately, starting in-house with assistant coaches Tony Jaramillo, Robert Fernandez, Taylor Null and Gentry Doolittle if they choose to pursue the job.
If history is any guide, athletic director Jeremy Maupin and the hiring committee will not take long. When former basketball coach Michael Mondragon retired on a Friday, Derek Montoya was named his successor by Tuesday.
Bickel finished 47-15 overall and 17-1 in district play, and Artesia reached the state championship game in both of his seasons as head coach. He brought home the 2025 title, the program’s first since 2000, and leaves behind a standard that did not slip this spring, even in the final game.