St. Michael’s baseball rolls past West Las Vegas on the road

St. Michael’s baseball rolls past West Las Vegas on the road, 13-0, and plays next at Robertson Saturday in a key District 2-4A doubleheader. Also on Tuesday, Santa Fe Indian School drops two at East Mountain in 5-4A, while in 3-3A Santa Fe Prep wins over visiting Pecos in a single game

By Arnie Leshin

The visiting St. Michael’s baseball team set up its key doubleheader at first place Robertson Saturday by blanking West Las Vegas, 13-0, Tuesday.

Now at 15-9 overall and 7-2 in District 2-4A, the Horsemen called on senior right-hander Sean Latham and he struck out eight in going the entire five innings of the mercy-rule game, throwing 87 pitches and retiring eight of the last nine batters.

He will also be one of the starters against the Cardinals. St. Michael’s lost the previous game (7-3) to visiting Robertson (20-3, 9-1) and will need a sweep to take over first place. A split will keep the Cards there.

Latham brought in the only runs his team would need when he singled home a pair in the first inning. The lead grew to 7-0 after three, with Derek Roybal and Jonah Baca clouting home runs. Senior James Hena came through with a 4-for-4 game and Latham went 3-for-4 and drove in four runs.

Then there was 8^th grader Derek Martinez coming up with two hits and scoring twice, and Roybal reaching base all four times, scoring four times with a pair of walks, a single and the home run. 

In all, the Horsemen were 17-for-31 against two Dons’ pitchers, and struck out only three times in 34 plate appearances. 

Santa Fe Indian School dropped two at East Mountain in District 5-4A. It lost the opener, 6-2 and the closer 10-8, to drop to 15-7 overall and 2-3 in district. East Mountain is now 9-9 and 3-2 and in a first place tie with Bernalillo.

In game one, the Braves scored once each in the third and seven frames, but East Mountain had a run in the first, three in the third, and twice in the sixth. 

In game two, Indian School fell behind 6-0 before scoring once in the third and four times in the four, but the home side upped the lead to 10-5 while the Braves pushed in two in the sixth and one in the seventh, 

In 3-3A, Santa Fe Prep won its third in a row by turning back Pecos, 8-6, at Tesuque Pueblo Field. The Panthers had won eight straight before losing their second in a row and fell to 11-9 overall and 6-4 in district. In the previous doubleheader between the two, Pecos won both, 11-6 and 16-4.

But this time, it was the Griffins, and they even had to come from behind after the Panthers scored three times in the top of the first. In the second, Prep took a 4-3 lead, and after Pecos scored once in the fourth, the Griffins added two more for a 6-4 lead, and following the Panthers’ two runs in the sixth, again Prep responded with two of its own.