Learning quickly that Nucla Baseball and Dove Creek Baseball are – for this season again, at least – two vastly different things, Ignacio fell 14-4 to the former in six innings on Saturday, April 8, after destroying the latter 20-2 in five on Tuesday, April 4.

Falling behind 4-0 after one inning and 8-0 through two at NHS, the Bobcats came alive with three runs in the top of the third, but found themselves still trailing 9-3 as the fourth frame began. The inning’s bottom half would be the last for senior Zach Weinreich, as he took the loss having allowed the Mustangs’ first nine scores.

Senior Timmy Plehinger-Williams went 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI in defeat, while Joe Herrera went 1-1 with a run and a ribbie. Trace Lovelace went 0-1 but did score twice, and Cole McCaw was 0-1 with a run.

Credited with six runs batted in, Nucla senior Sladen Hendrickson went 3-for-4 with a home run and scored twice in support of winning pitcher Graden Steffan (CG, 4 BB, 5 K). Steffan also swung a hot bat in his own defense, going 3-3 with two doubles, two runs and a pair plated.

Junior Cord Colson was 2-4 with a homer and three runs knocked in, and senior Devyn Rummel was 1-4 with a walk and three runs scored as the Mustangs improved to 5-5 overall, 2-0 in the 2A/1A San Juan Basin League. The Cats dipped to 2-6, 1-1 prior to hosting Dolores for a single game on the 11th. Results were unavailable at press time.

Looking ahead, IHS is slated to face non-league 2A’s Rangely and Meeker on Friday, April 14, in Cortez, then host 3A Bayfield on the 18th at 4:00 p.m. SJBL play then resumes for Ignacio with a April 20 doubleheader (1 p.m. start) versus DCHS and a two-fer against Nucla the next day.