Silver, the 2nd seed in 4A of the state baseball tournament, plays 7th seeded St. Michael’s in Thursday’s quarterfinals

Santa Fe Indian School, the 12th seed, goes against 4thseeded Portales in the quarters after wining its opening round in a best-of-three at New Mexico Military Institute

By Arnie Leshin 

Second seeded in 4A, Silver played Socorro five times and it almost cost the Colts.

It was last weekend’s opening round in Silver City, where Socorro came in as the 15th seed and had already lost three times to 3-4A district rival Silver, but this time it came close to sweeping the best-of-three opening round and send the home team packing in the season.

So the Colts at 21-7 overall, had to go some in order to get past the visitors, winning game one 7-6 and game two the following day, 4-3.

It was thisclose to being the tournament’s early surprise, but while the Warriors pack up their gear, Silver is still playing and will take on 7th seeded St. Michael’s in Thursday’s 1 p.m. quarterfinals at Rio Rancho High School.

The Horsemen (18-10), finished second in 2-4A to Robertson and had no problem eliminating visiting district foe Taos in two games of the first round. Last year, under first-year head coach Augustin Ruiz, they surprised Bernalillo in the quarterfinals before losing 4-3 to eventual champion Portales.

Now Santa Fe Indian School, the runner-up to Bernalillo in 5-4A, and the 12th seed, meets up with the 4th seeded Rams in Thursday’s quarters at Rio Rancho High, with the start scheduled for 10 a.m.

The Braves advanced by taking 2-of-3 at 5th seeded New Mexico Military Institute in round one. They won the first game 7-6, dropped the next 7-4, and then won 4-1 in eight innings to up their overall mark to 17-11 and stun the home crowd.

Meanwhile, Portales (18-10) took two from 12thseeded West Las Vegas, 5-4, 7-3, as the Rams try for a second-straight state title.

And Silver head coach Claude Thompson wants to forget the “almost lost”    

and concentrate on St. Michael’s.

“I told my kids before the first game last Friday that they could lose,” Thompson said. “I let them know that beating a district team three times doesn’t mean they automatically win again. It was two close games and we could have dropped both.”

It was the fifth one-run win for the Colts, who went 12-0 in district. Socorro finished third in district (6-6) behind Cobre, was 12-16 overall, and had lost 10-0, 7-0 and 11-6 to Silver during the regular season. Silver finished the regular season by winning its last six starts and 19 of its last 20.

Thompson added that he informed his players to not take anyone lightly, and that includes the Horsemen. Then he warned them they had dropped the season’s first two games at Deming.

But St. Michael’s, said Ruiz, is playing real well. After three tough district games versus Taos, this time it won handily. The Horsemen have been led by seniors Sean Latham and Jonah Baca, Latham with his pitching and hitting, and red-hot batter Baca.

There’s also been 8th grader Derek Martinez, and the youngster is ahead of the game with his timely batting. And you can add the reliable hitting of juniors Aiden Gantt and Eric Romero and senior James Hena, as well as freshman pitcher Thomas Erickson.

So Ruiz might start Latham against Silver. That’s been his most reliable hurler, and we’re now at one-and-done, so you might as well go with your best. 

Albuquerque Hope Christian (22-6) is the top seed in 4A.