NMMI Sports Press
The Colt Baseball team won their home tournament for the first time since 2015 with a 7-2 victory over the defending 2A state champion Eunice Cardinals in the final matchup of the 29th annual Roswell Sertoma Colt Classic Saturday night at NMMI Ballpark.
David Cobia got his first start on the bump for the Colts, giving up an early run before locking in to keep the Cards off the scoreboard through the middle innings. The junior from Alabama gave up two runs off six hits over six innings with three strikeouts and no walks.
"David started a little shaky, which is understandable, but he settled in and did a great job," said first-year NMMI head coach Brad Blackwell. "He's been working his tail off and we had full confidence in him and he came out and showed us why he should be out there in that spot."
Sophomore Tegin Maloney closed the game with 11 pitches, eight for strikes, and didn't allow a hit.
The Colts put up five runs in the first two innings and despite the lopsided score, there was plenty of action no matter who was on the basepaths. The Cards had five hits to the Colts' three, and put pressure on the NMMI defense throughout the night.
That was an exciting game from start to finish," Blackwell said. "Definitely a good game for the fans. Eunice is a good team and their defense wasn't the best tonight and they had a handful of errors that we were able to capitalize."
The last time the Colts won the Sertoma title, Blackwell was a NMMI college sophomore and shortstop for Bronco Baseball.
"Pretty cool to be back here as a coach and bring this title back to the Institute," he said.
The Colt Classic featured plenty of close games, comeback wins and only a few blowouts. Six of the eight squads were playoff teams in 2022 and once again, the Roswell Sertoma Club put on the best small-school baseball tourney in the state.
"I thought the tournament went great. It was really well organized. My coaches were here all day, every day, and as I've said before, I'm blessed to have those guys on my side," said Blackwell. "It was long, it was exhausting, but it was a great three days on baseball.
Seven players from the visiting squads were named to the All-Tournament Team:
Hatch Valley sophomore catcher/utility Jacob Avalos, Capitan senior infielder/pitcher Clayden West, Texico senior infielder Jadyn Gonser, Dexter senior centerfielder/pitcher Joel Aldavaz, Santa Rosa senior centerfielder Marcos Chavez, Santa Rosa junior shortstop/pitcher Jykub Gage and Eunice senior shortstop/pitcher Jonathan Caballero.
Four Colts garnered all-tourney honors:
Junior outfielder/pitcher Roman Fox, Junior catcher Luis C. Patron, senior first baseman/pitcher Miguel Rivera and the tournament most valuable player, sophomore outfielder Nicolas Barcenas.
The Colts (8-1) have won six straight since a 7-6 loss at Eunice on March 14. They'll try to take that momentum into district play, which begins Tuesday with a home game against Sandia Prep at 4 p.m. on Tuesday.