The Bulldog baseball team may not have had quite the weekend it wanted at the Sal Puentes Memorial in Rio Rancho, but the ‘Dogs’ lone win was a big one in terms of the games that count.
In a tournament that featured exclusively top-10 talent from Classes 5A and 4A — including all four of the top 5A teams in New Mexico Overtime Sports’ latest coaches’ poll — the boys in orange came up short of No. 1 La Cueva and No. 3 Cleveland in their first two outings but logged a quality 2-0 win over 4A No. 5 Albuquerque Academy in the seventh-place game.
Academy had fallen in its consolation semifinal to 4A third-ranked Goddard, 7-4. The Rockets went on to lose 10-0 in five innings to Cleveland in the consolation final. Artesia was ranked ninth in the March 25 coaches’ poll.
With the win, the ‘Dogs moved to 6-7 on the season and to 3-1 against same-class competition.
After two-and-a-half scoreless innings Saturday, the Bulldogs mounted a two-out rally in the bottom of the third against the Chargers, with Nye Estrada reaching on an error and sophomore pitcher Jack Byers driving him in with a double to the left-field fence.
Artesia then added an insurance run in the fourth when Kaden Beauregard — aboard with a leadoff walk — crossed on another two-bagger, this time a shot to left-center by senior first baseman Rickey Armendariz.
That would be it for the Bulldogs offensively, but with a solid defensive performance behind Byers, it was enough. Armendariz notched an unassisted double play on a liner to first in the top of the second, and the ‘Dogs committed just one error on the game amidst four hits, eight strikeouts and two walks.
Artesia had a harder time shutting down the bats of Cleveland in Friday’s consolation semifinal round.
After taking a 1-0 lead out of the first on a sacrifice fly, the Storm bumped their advantage to 4-0 in the second on a two-run homer by pitcher Jarren Villa and a Silas Hilton RBI triple. Cleveland would tally three more dingers in their next three at-bats: a three-run shot by Villa in the third and solo homers from Malachi Jaramillo and Brandon Hennessy in the fourth and fifth.
The Bulldogs — who struggled heavily at the plate against the junior Villa — were finally able to get on the board in the top of seven when Daelon Pacheco reached with a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a passed ball, and took home on a stolen-base-turned error. But the next three Artesia batters would go down swinging to end the game, 9-1.
Jett Fuentes, Estrada and Jett Whitmire accounted for the ‘Dogs’ three hits on the contest, with Whitmire delivering a leadoff double down the third-base line in the second but being left standing after three straight Ks. Villa finished with a whopping 19 strikeouts and just one walk through seven for the Storm.
The boys in orange also had a tough time offensively in Thursday’s tourney-opening 10-1 loss to top-ranked La Cueva.
Artesia got base hits from Byers and Jesse Armendariz in their first two trips to the plate against the Bears, but both runners were stranded. La Cueva, meanwhile, put together a 2-0 lead through three-and-a-half, scoring on an error in the second and on a wild pitch in the third.
The Bulldogs cut that lead in half in the bottom of four when Whitmire singled to left, stole second, and came around on a base knock to right by Rickey Armendariz. But the ‘Dogs went down in order in the fifth, had a one-out runner erased with a double play in the sixth, and left Ayden Huffman and Jesse Armendariz — on as a hit batsman and with a single to left, respectively — on the paths following a trio of strikeouts in the seventh.
The Bears would rack up eight more runs in their final three trips to the plate, with only three of those earned. Errors extended the tops of the sixth and seventh as starter Estrada gave way to sophomore Diego Morales and junior Beauregard. La Cueva finished with a combined 10 hits to Artesia’s five, and the Bulldogs committed five errors to the Bears’ one.
The Diamond ‘Dogs will now head back to Southeast New Mexico to continue the home stretch of their 2024 regular-season schedule. They’ll head to Hobbs Tuesday for a 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. double header against the 5A Eagles.
Artesia will then have a week off before hosting Roswell High at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 9, and Carlsbad at 5 p.m. Friday, April 12. The ‘Dogs’ District 4-AAAA schedule will kick off Thursday and Friday, April 18 and 19, with a single game Thursday against Portales at 5 p.m. at Brainard Park and a road double dip against the Rams Saturday at 5 and 7 p.m.