St. Michael’s District baseball champions disposed of Santa Fe Indian School

It was the regular season finale, but for St. Michael’s baseball District 2-3A champions, Thursday afternoon‘s 7-3 win over visiting district rival Santa Fe Indian School was important.

Now Augustin Ruiz’ Horsemen await Sunday’s New Mexican Activities Association’s state seedings announcement. They are hoping for a No. 1 seed, but are sure to be among the top four seeds that will get a bye into the quarterfinals that begin May 12 at Rio Rancho Cleveland.

They upped their overall record to 19-6, but win number 20 wouldn’t come until the playoffs, and it’s been a while since St. Michael’s has won that many. This was also their seventh straight success, and they’ve now outscored the opposition, 248-130.

In dropping the Braves to 12-11 overall, the Horsemen became 11-1 in district and clinched the top spot with Tuesday’s 14-8triumph at second place Robertson. But this wasn’t an easy one.

Indian School scored once in the top of the first, and St. Michael’s responded with a run apiece in the second and third innings and added three more in the four, a pair in the fifth, and the Braves added two runs in the sixth. They came away with four hits, the Horsemen had 10.

But it hasn’t been a predictable campaign. They opened with non-district wins over Bernalillo and Silver, but then dropped three in a row to Albuquerque St. Pius X, Albuquerque Sandia and East Mountain, getting outscored 31-9, in these non-district games.

Now at 2-3. the Horsemen edged Taos, 5-4. disposed of Portales, then lost this time to Bernalillo, but bounced back with seven-straight wins, including the 11-0 zip over visiting Robertson in game one of the doubleheader at the Christian Brothers Athletic Complex. But in game two, the Cardinals prevailed, 8-5, and St. Michael’s hasn’t lost since.

That’s right seven in a row and outscoring its opponents by a whooping 86-24. It is ranked first in 3A and 26th in the state.

This Royal Blue and White roster contains seven seniors, a pair of juniors, four sophomores and two freshmen. The main guy on the mound is right-handed senior Owen Gruda. He sports an 8-0 record to go with a 2.40 earned run average. He threw 120 pitches in the recent route-going win over the Cardinals.

(1)             DEVIN FLORES               OF, LH                  Sr.

(2)             RAHUL WILLIAMS          3B, RHP                Jr.

(3)             RAYES BAROS                OF, RHP               Jr.

(4)             DEREK MARTINEZ          RHP, UTL.            Sr.

(5)             ISAAC RUIZ                      2B, RHP, UTL.     Sr.

(7)             ELIJAH SISNEROS          RPH, UTL.           Sr.

(8)            JEREMIAH CHOKEY        OF, RHP               Sr.

(9)             CEEJAY SAIZ                   C, 1B                   Sr.
(10)           DEREK SAIZ                     RHP, UTL            Fr.

(11)           OWEN GRUDA                  RHP, OF             Sr.

(12)           SANTIAGO MARTINEZ    RHP, SS              Fr.

(14)           JIMMY RODRIGUEZ         C, UTL.               So.

(15)           JACKSON HEATH            RHP, INF.            So.

(17)           ELIJAH ARCHULETA       RHP, 3B              So.

(20)           JOHN LEEDER                 RHP, 1B              So.

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