NMMI Sports Press
ODESSA, Texas — Bronco baseball coach Chris Cook earned his 200th victory with NMMI Friday (and his 100th WJCAC win) shepharding a blowout 13-1 victory over Odessa (7-12, 2-2). Unfortunately, the Institute (17-3, 2-2) couldn't keep the bats going in Game 2, as they fell 9-2.
"We've got to find a way at the bottom of the order, to not necessarily put balls in plays, but have better at bats," Cook said of the two losses in the series. "That was what wasn't happening in those two games.
As to what was happening, Game 1 was all Broncos.
Mario Chacon and Gavon Clemons each notched a grand slam in the opener, accounting for eight of the Bronco runs. Both players were 1-for-4 with one run and 4 RBI for the game.
"He's a clutch guy," Cook said of Chacon. "He's really having a good year. He's come up with home big home runs for us."
As for Clemons, "He had some good at bats and some other bats got away from him, but he still does damage," the coach said.
Rudy Solis was 3-for-3 with a double, two runs scored and a walk, and Edwin Martinez Pagani was 2-for-2 with two runs scored, 4 RBIs and two walks.
On the mound, Drew Price pitched a complete five-inning game to get the victory, matching the effort by Megumi Fukuda Thursday.
"Both those guys worked ahead in the count," the coach said of his winning pitchers. "They didn't mis-locate their off-speed stuff and I don't care what (Odessa's) record is, that's a talented lineup, they've just got off to a slow start with the competition they faced. But if you make a lot of mistakes against their lineup, they're going to hit it hard. Drew and Megumi did not make a lot of mistakes, and it helped that we got our bats going."
Price allowed only three hits and one earned run while striking out three.
After allowing the one run in the first on a single, error and double, Price got the side out in order in the second, third and fourth, and only allowed one final runner in the fifth.
Offensively, after stranding a runner in the first, NMMI made it 6-1 when Solis doubled and came home on a line drive single by Cam Stevenson. Josh Crabtree was then hit by a pitch; Victor Jimenez and Martinez Pagani walked, scoring Stevenson, and Chacon homered to right.
The Broncos added seven runs in the fifth when Solis bunted for a single; Stevenson walked; Crabtree singled; Jimenez singled to score Solis; Martinez Pagani singled in Stevenson and Emilio Pardo (running for Crabtree); Guillermo Borquez walked to load the bases and Clemons hit his grand slam.
Game 2 was almost a copy of Thursday's nightcap, with strong Wrangler pitching shutting down the Bronco bats.
"Yesterday, their Game 2 starter didn't miss any spots," Cook said. "He didn't miss any spots with his slider, which was a really good pitch. He had a 90, 92 mile-per-hour fastball that he was locating. He was lights out. And we got behind early, which puts more pressure on, and it's hard to go to the bullpen real early in the second game when you're down a bunch because you've still got two games to play. It was just a bad combination of things."
Almost a copy, but not quite.
"Game 4 was a little different,"the coach continued. "He was a left hander. We haven't see a whole lot of those and two of our three loses have been against lefties. In the second game today, I thought we got a little frustrated with ourselves offensively. Give the kid credit. He pitched well, but I thought we made it a little easier for him."
NMMI only scored in two innings.
After 4-1/2 scoreless innings, the Wranglers scored three off starter Ty Villareal, who allowed three singles and a double.
The Broncos came back in the fifth closing it to 3-2 when Clemons hit a solo home run; Solis doubled and came home on a double by Hunter Roquemore.
Odessa added four in the bottom of the stanza off relievers Julian Lopez and Henrique Date, and a final two in the seventh off Date and Adrian Rubio.
NMMI tried to come back in the ninth but fell short.
With one out, Borquez singled then Chacon again homered, but that was the Broncos could manage.
As a team, NMMI had three doubles and two home runs, but only seven hits in total, with only Solis (2-for-4, 1 run) getting multiple hits.
Villareal got the loss, allowing three runs, two earned, on six hits and a walk while striking out seven. But Cook didn't blame him for the loss.
"Ty Villareal pitched lights out," the coach said. "It's the best he's been all year. We just couldn't get him any run support. It's good to see for Ty because he made some really good pitches as well. It just got a little bit out of hand late. Something to learn from."
With an extra day off before their next series — this one was moved forward because of predicted high winds in Odessa Saturday — the Broncos will work on fixing the problems they saw this series.
"We need to be able to produce runs when Chacon isn't hitting or Edwin slumping," Cook said. "Edwin had some good at bats and lined out a couple of times. When those guys aren't hitting, we've got to find a way at the bottom of the order, to not necessarily put balls in plays, but have better at bats. That was what wasn't happening in those two (losses). We'll get those guys going. The younger guys. Because our third-year guys are having good at bats. The second year guys are having good at bats. We've just gotta get some of our freshmen going and get some confidence."
NMMI travels to Big Spring, Texas, March 26-27 for a four-game series vs. Howard College.