NMMI Sports Press

Alejandro Torres Rivera tossed five innings in relief Saturday in the third game of a four-game series against the Western Texas Westerners, allowing no earned runs off two hits with just two walks and 10 big strikeouts in the 5-3 win.

"It's crazy what'll happen if you throw fastball strikes and have a second pitch," said a frustrated NMMI head coach Chris Cook. "You come in pounding the strike zone and taking the aggression to the hitter, it puts you in a much better position. We had a lot of guys that looked like they were pitching scared."

It was the only real bright spot during a series that featured NMMI's worst offensive output of the conference season, and against one of the worst teams in the league according to win-loss record.

"We got out competed, out pitched and out played," Cook said. "They played harder. They beat us Friday and in Game 4 we gave them seven runs, six of which reached base on a walk or error. You're not going to beat teams that work hard and play hard by doing that."

Thanks to other results across the Western Junior College Athletic Conference, the losses didn't hurt as much as they could, with the Broncos (13-11) left in a tie for third place with the Howard Hawks, whom NMMI will travel to play in the final conference series of the season on May 3.

Before that, the Broncos will take on the Tejanos in El Paso next weekend before the final home series on April 26-27 against Amarillo. The Badgers are only two games behind the Broncos in the standings.

The top four teams in the league will move on to the regional tourney in Waco starting on May 10. The Broncos seek to earn their first ever back-to-back trips to regionals with previous opportunities in 1961, 2016 and 2023.