Cobre comes to town to take on St. Mikes in baseball

St. Michael’s must take two today against visiting Cobre in the state 4A baseball opening round or pack up the equipment after yesterday’s 2-1 loss

Indians come in as 14^th seed and stun the 3^rd seeded, district champion Horsemen

By Arnie Leshin  (Cover photo by St. Michael’s High School)

Win two today or turn in its gear, that’s the situation that the St. Michael’s baseball team faces after visiting Cobre handed it a 2-1 setback in Friday’s first round of the state 4A tournament.

For the 3^rd seeded Horsemen, they are fortunate that this is a best-of-three round. So they still can survive and gain the quarterfinals, but if they don’t win the morning opener, it would conclude the season for first-year head coach Augustin Ruiz’ team after claiming the District 2-4A championship.

But the Indians have been a pest to St. Michael’s in recent years. In the 2013 quarterfinal they were the lower seed and ended the Horsemen’s impressive campaign. In the annual Jim Pierce Memorial tournament at St. Michael’s back in March, they won 5-4.

A program that has won six state titles and has been in a dozen finals, Cobre didn’t take kindly to being given the 14^th seed in the field of 16. So once again, it took it out on the Horsemen. Starting pitcher James Ramos went the route and allowed five hits in the tight contest played at Christian Brothers Athletic Complex.

For St. Michael’s it was Sean Latham on the mound and he, too, was impressive.

It was a scoreless game when the Horsemen went up 1-0 in the bottom of the first behind a double off the bat of Aiden Gantt followed by Jason Romero’s single, but Ramos settled down after that.

The Indians (15-12) had won seven of their last eight with good pitching and clutch hitting. In the fourth inning, Ramos singled to lead off, and it was misplayed in the outfield. He scored shortly after to force the 1-1 deadlock.

In the sixth, Cobre took the lead and maintained it. Josh Arellano began things with a single, advanced to second on a sacrifice, and came across the plate two batters later to put his team in front and put the home team’s chances in jeopardy.

The Indians had a weak stretch in district and were hoping they would receive an at-large bid. They feared perhaps being a No. 16 or 17 and either being in or out.

When they got in, they were still disappointed in the way they played in some games, but getting back to Santa Fe was probably a big lift. They knew this baseball field from the Pierce tournament, and came in confident despite finishing fifth in that tourney.

Now they look again to end St. Michael’s season. The Horsemen (16-11) will send Romero to the mound in game one, and if the afternoon game two is necessary, will probably start Jude Mondragon.

That’s what it has come down to, win two or hand or your gear.