NMMI Sports Press

MIDLAND, Texas — No. 1 WJCAC baseball team Midland (21-8, 11-1) again swept the Broncos Friday, winning 8-6 and 15-5, but NMMI (17-11, 2-0) played tougher in both matches and is looking forward to coming home for the final three series of the season.

"The plan right now is to play the next three series at home, but we've got a week off in between and the thought process now is we've just got to find a way to get into the top six of the seven teams and then anything can happen in the conference tournament," said coach Chris Cook. "At this point, we've just have to win some games of the last 12 we've got. We're capable of doing it. We've just got to go out and do it."

They came close to doing it in Game 3 against the Chaparrals, but one early inning made the difference.

"A big inning in the first game just killed us," the coach said. "The strike zone was a little bit tight and we made some pretty darn good pitches that didn't get call strikes. They got some hits and made the most out of that five-run inning, but other than that Jorge (Garcia) pitched really well. We battled at the plate and made it interesting, and it just got away from us in the last inning or two. We had our chances, and just didn't get it done."

Midland broke open a scoreless game in the top of the second, scoring five runs on two walks, two singles and two doubles. But the Bronco bats took advantage of some Midland pitching mistakes in the bottom of the third, and hit the ball hard.

Both Cam Stevenson and Henner Gonzales Rodriguez were hit by pitches to open the stanza. After a strike out and fielder's choice, Rudy Solis singled in Stevenson, and Ryan Flake singled in Edwin Martinez Pagani.

The third was scoreless until Midland made it 6-2 with a solo home run in the fourth. Then NMMI tied at at 6-6 in the sixth.

Flake singled, Mario Chacon was hit and Gavon Clemons tripled to right to bring in two. Guillermo Borquez the homered on a 2-0 count and just like that, the game was tied. But the Broncos couldn't hold it, as the Chaps came back with two more in the bottom of the sixth on an error with reliever Albert Olivia Velez on the mound.

And after walking E Martinez Pagani to open the seventh, the Midland pitcher closed the game on three straight strikeouts.

Clemons led the NMMI offense, going 2-for-3 with a run and two runs scored while Flake was 2-for-4 with one run and RBI.

The final game of the series again revolved around a big early inning for Midland that the Broncos simply couldn't overcome.

"Game 4 was shaping up to be a high-scoring game but we just ran into some issues controlling the strike zone," Cook said. "Just too many free pitches on the pitching side and the score just got out of control. But we had some opportunities offensively to score some runs and we just kind of shot ourselves in the foot on the mound."

The Chaps wasted no time in scoring off starter Ty Villareal, getting six runs on three walks, two hit batters, two singles, a double and a home run, four runs scoring with two outs.

NMMI got a quick three in the second when Clemons singled, Borquez walked and with one out, Josh Crabtree homered on a fly ball to left.

The Chaparrals came back with three in the bottom of the stanza off reliever Julian Lopez, who gave up two walks, a hit batter and two singles before Adrian Rubio closed out the inning.

Rubio then gave up two runs in the third on four walks and a single, but a double play and reliever Tristan Copeland closed out the inning, while Copeland kept Midland from scoring in the fourth.

The Broncos closed the gap to 11-5 in the fifth when Victor Jimenez singled and two out later, Solis homered to left.

But those were the last NMMI runs of the game, and Midland added three in the fifth off Copeland and one in the sixth off Leandro Tamaki to end the game early. 

"Every time we scored, we let then score, and it's just hard offensively," Cook said. "We've got to be able to fight through that offensively, but on the mound we've got to be able to go out after the score runs like that and make them earn the bases they get. We didn't. We had about 10 free bases in the first three innings. You're going to get your butts kicked if you do that consistently."

NMMI's five pitchers walked 12, hit two and threw three wild pitches. Offensively, only Jimenez had more than one hit, going 2-for-2 with a run scored.

The Broncos will be off until April 16, when, if nothing changes regarding Covid protocols, they'll host Frank Phillips.