Floyd advances past San Jon
CNJ staff
RIo Rancho — J’Kobe Lee made the decision easy for Floyd coach Darwin Chenault.
Lee held San Jon hitless for five innings and junior third baseman Justin Rogers drove in four runs as Floyd blanked San Jon 10-0 Wednesday in a quarterfinal game of the Class 1A state baseball tournament.
Lee, who had a sore arm early in the season, tired in the fifth inning when he walked the bases loaded before retiring the final two hitters on flyouts.
“I hate that I had to make the decision — a lot of people will be second-guessing, but I asked him (after the fifth) and he said he was out of gas,” Chenault said. “I wanted to let him try to work himself out of the jam.”
The junior right-hander threw 92 pitches, striking out eight and walking six.
The second-seeded Broncos (12-7) face sixth-seeded Valley Christian (10-9) of Roswell at 2 p.m. today at Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho.
The Lions beat McCurdy 10-1 Wednesday.
Rogers was 2-for-2, including a two-run single in Floyd’s four-run fifth inning and a run-scoring double in a three-run sixth that ended the game by the 10-run mercy rule as the Broncos won their state tournament game in school history.
Junior Luiz Ortiz helped the Broncos grabbed a quick 2-0 in the bottom of the first inning when he tripled and scored on Rogers’ sacrifice fly. He added an RBI double in the fifth.
Senior Blake Martin, who stroked an RBI double down the right-field line in the fifth, pitched the final inning for Floyd, allowing San Jon’s only hit.
Floyd beat seventh-seeded San Jon (9-13) in a doubleheader during the regular-season.
“San Jon is a pretty good team,” Chenault said. “We did what we had to do. We kept the ball down, threw strikes when we needed to and played good defense.”
