Bobcats score 14-4, 14-4 sweep
Once the Bobcats brought out their boomsticks Saturday, April 12, there was no hope for struggling Trinidad.
To be fair, the Miners, still seeking their first win in 2025, had battled well in the doubleheader’s early goings and forced Ignacio to piece together two mini-rallies just to begin the bottom of the fourth inning level at 4-all with the guests. But after THS starter Andres Romero retired the first two batters he faced, he then walked Tanner Smith and leadoff man Gabe Archuleta.
Head coach Michael Peitsmeyer, sensing something was seriously wrong, wisely made a change and put shortstop Marcus Dasko on the mound. But the freshman then walked Stoney White Thunder, bringing Cole Wagner to the plate. Unable to hit, but unable to resist high heaters during his previous two at-bats, the big senior waited for something lower…and got it. Smashing Dasko’s delivery into deep left-center for a double, Wagner cleared the bases and irreparably severed the tie.
“I was in my head a little bit. Got a little hungry on that high fastball,” he admitted. “But when I saw that middle fastball I was like, ‘That’s the one I want!’ Crushed it and saw everybody go—and score—and I was like, ‘I did my job,’ you know?”
Trinidad failed to respond in the top of the fifth, and Ignacio went back to work in the bottom half with Joe Atencio, batting eighth in boss Isiah Valdez’s order, singling home William Mendoza-Lechuga with one out. Dasko then plunked Smith and walked Archuleta (1-1, 3 BB, 2B, 3 R), and White Thunder (1-2, 2 BB, 3 R, RBI) singled into right, scoring Atencio and increasing IHS’ lead to 9-4. And like something out of a pitcher’s nightmare, Wagner again stood in with the sacks packed.
A wild pitch allowed Smith to score, and another brought in Archuleta with White Thunder advancing to third. Wagner, meanwhile, received nothing hittable and walked. But Dasko’s control still suffered, and a wild pitch to Ambrose Valdez allowed White Thunder to score. Valdez, however, would go down swinging and Sonny Flores then grounded out to new shortstop Romero—retiring the side and leaving Wagner (1-3, 3 RBI), ironically, again stranded at the hot corner.
Having replaced Valdez (ND; 3.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K) on the hill, White Thunder (W; 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 HB, 3 K) then retired Trinidad in order in the visitors’ sixth, and Atencio then capped a 14-4, mercy-rule victory by doubling home Easton Smith and Mendoza-Lechuga (0-1, 2 BB, HBP, 3 R).
“He’s a freshman starting on varsity, and he’s got big shoes to fill over there at second base,” said Isiah Valdez, alluding to the graduated Marcus Maez, “so that was good for him, in giving him confidence moving forward.”
“The pitch came, I loaded up…threw my arms at it, and then it flew to the outfield!” Atencio (2-4, R, 3 RBI) said. “We really hit a lot better than we did in Nucla. We struggled then, but we really put the barrel to the ball this game.”
And that didn’t change in Game 2. With the Miners unable to touch starting pitcher White Thunder, the ’Cats dashed out to an 8-0 lead through three innings—highlighted by Tanner Smith’s RBI-triple plating Atencio, and Archuleta’s subsequent single scoring Smith—against THS’ Xavier Garcia.
Trinidad finally got on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth; leadoff hitter Brett Kendall doubled off Wagner, who’d relieved White Thunder (W; 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 HB, 5 K) after 2-1/3 perfect frames, and came around via Garcia’s single up the middle. But Wagner worked out of the inning with no more damage done and then led off the bottom of the inning belting a ground-rule double off THS reliever Jeremiah Romero.
Offsetting Kendall’s run, Wagner’s courtesy runner Miguel Red later scored via a wild pitch to Mendoza-Lechuga, and after the Miners managed three fifth-inning runs off Wagner (3 H, 2 R, ER, BB, 2 K) and Archuleta, the ’Cats all but sealed the deal with a four-run reply—keyed by Easton Smith’s two-out single scoring White Thunder and Flores—in the home half.
Archuleta (2 IP, 0 H, 2 R, ER, 2 BB, 3 K) then sat Jeremiah Romero, Curtis Bueno and Colton Royball down in order, and in the bottom of the sixth Ignacio secured another 14-4 win—as well as a non-league sweep—via consecutive one-out singles by White Thunder, Wagner and Valdez (plating White Thunder).
“They didn’t really throw that hard, couldn’t really throw a lot of strikes. So we just had to swing at their strikes and that was pretty much it,” said Archuleta (1-4, BB, 3 R). “The bats woke up and that’s what we really needed.”
“Yeah, we started off kind of slow…not too hot, as we usually do,” Wagner (3-4, sacrifice fly) said. “But then we kind of came together, started hitting…and scoring some more runs.”
“We were timing (THS’ pitchers) up a bit faster today,” added Valdez (2-4, BB, 2B, R, RBI), “so we just started to get back in our routine. Started hitting the ball—and fielding better.”
Reaching base in each of his four plate appearances, Atencio finished 2-for-3 in Game 2, with a walk and two runs scored. Easton Smith, Flores and White Thunder also scored two runs apiece, and Mendoza-Lechuga went 1-3 with a walk and one RBI.
At day’s end, Kendall finished a combined 2-for-4 in defeat with two walks, three runs and one RBI. Game 2 losing pitcher Garcia (3 IP, 5 H, 8 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K) also finished 2-4 offensively with a sac-fly and three RBI as Trinidad fell to 0-5 (0-0 2A Southern Peaks) overall.
Looking ahead, Ignacio (6-3, 4-1 2A/1A San Juan Basin) will host non-league Sanford on Friday, April 18, with the doubleheader against the Mustangs—set to visit THS on the 15th—slated to start at 11 a.m. The ’Cats will then resume SJBL work on the 22nd when they host Nucla for a pair. Results from IHS’ two-fer Monday, April 14, at Dove Creek (4-5, 2-1 SJBL) were unavailable at press time.
“We’re going to kind of be limited on our pitch counts going in,” Isiah Valdez said. “But those are important league games and hopefully we can win two—and win another league title.”