NMMI Sports Press
The New Mexico Military Institute Bronco baseball team split a pair of home games on Friday versus Garden City Community College.
NMMI won Game 1 in grand fashion, collecting their sixth walk-off win, 6-5, after a solo-shot over the left-center field fence by sophomore Adam Abeyta, his third dinger of the season.
The Broncos lead early, building a 4-1 lead with single runs in the first and fourth innings, and a pair of runs in the third. But the Broncbusters came back, posting a five-spot in the top of the fifth, thanks in large part to a grand slam by GCCC right fielder Darien Burns.
NMMI plated a tying run in the sixth, held Garden City scoreless in the top of the seventh, before Abeyta's game winning hit with one out.
NMMI starting pitcher Parker Bateman went 4.2 innings with no decision, allowing 5 hits, 5 runs (all earned), four walks and six strikeouts.
Angel Lebron got credit for the win in relief – his first of the season – with 1 inning pitched, no runs or hits, and 1K.
"It was a well-pitched game by both teams with a few exceptions," said head NMMI coach Chris Cook. "We hit some hard balls and led early, but we made a mistake to one of their left handed bats and he hit a grand slam to take the lead 5-4. We battled to tie the game with some really good base running by Colon to get to third and score on a sac fly, then Adam Abeyta came up with a huge homerun to win the game ."
In Game 2, Garden City's bats came alive with 15 hits driving in 10 runs. NMMI managed seven hits but only two runs, those coming in the last inning for the Broncos.
Starting pitcher Matthew Marquez got tagged for the loss; he threw four complete, giving up nine hits and five earned runs, while recording six strikeouts.
Sophomore first baseman Bobby Galindo had a great doubleheader at the plate for NMMI, going 6 for 7 with three doubles, three RBIs, and one run.
Freshmen Cedric Reynaud was 3 for 6 with two runs scored. Derek Santana and Dominic Madrid both hit .1000 (1 for 1) after pinch-hit appearances in Game 2.
"We hit a lot of ground balls and we weren't able to make anything happen," explained coach Cook. "They had three big innings, which scored all their runs and we never put up fight offensively until the bottom of the 7th.
With the split, NMMI moves to 9-5 on the season, while GCCC moves to 7-3.
Both teams will square off again tomorrow at the NMMI Ballpark beginning at 12 P.M. with another pair of games to complete a four-game series.
"It is going to be a battle tomorrow," finished Cook. "I think there will be a lot of runs scored and an overall better day for baseball. At this point, our only goal is to come out and start swinging the bats in game three and try to give us a chance to win a series. "
