Portales pounds NMMI
The Portales Rams piled on the runs Thursday and clinched a share of the District 4-3A baseball title.
Portales had two big innings in each game and drubbed New Mexico Military 11-6 and 21-8 in the Rams’ regular-season finale at Ram Field. Portales (15-11, 12-4 district) can do no worse than tie for the district title with Lovington, but the Wildcats — who host two games against Dexter on Saturday — have a head-to-head runs tiebreaker and will get the No. 1 seed from the district for Class 3A state tournament play if they sweep the Demons.
Jesus Acosta hit a two-run homer and Garth Dodson added a two-run single in Portales’ five-run fourth in the opener, building a 7-0 lead. The Rams added four in the sixth, two on catcher Tim Sando’s home run, to put the game out of reach.
“The first game we kind of let them hang around a little bit, but the second game we hit the ball better,” Rams coach Arturo Ontiveros said. “We’re starting to swing (the bats) a little (better), but we just haven’t caught the ball real well all year.”
James Salgado went 2-for-4 at the plate and picked up the pitching victory for the Rams, going five innings and allowing one run on two hits. He walked three and struck out four. Sando and Ryan Schmidt both finished 2-for-4, with Schmidt hitting a pair of doubles.
The Rams collected 13 hits in the second game. Schmidt went 2-for-3 and drove in five runs with a pair of two-run singles and a bases-loaded walk, while Acosta pitched three innings for the win and contributed a three-run homer in an eight-run second, plus two walks and a sacrifice fly.
Salgado added 3-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs, Cameron Carling was 3-for-4 with an RBI and Shawn Carrasco went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.
Portales will find out Sunday where it is seeded in the 16-team state tournament, and should get a first-round home game either Friday or Saturday of next week. The top eight seeds host first-round games, with the winners moving on to Albuquerque for the rest of the tournament.
