Peter Dindinger – NMMI Sports Press
It had been 40 days since the New Mexico Military Institute Bronco baseball team last played in Roswell back in March.
Riding a nine-game losing skid entering its four-game series with Frank Phillips College on Friday, NMMI was hoping to turn things around.
In Game 1, starter Megumi Fukuda tossed a three-hitter with six strikeouts to help the Broncos get the 11-0 win in five innings.
The script was flipped in Game 2.
NMMI led 9-2 early on before the Plainsmen rallied for nine runs to take an 11-9 lead. Frank Phillips was out ahead 16-14 before Mario Chacon tied the game with a two-run homer.
The Broncos got a walk-off sacrifice fly from Rudy Solis that plated home Derek Vanasse to lift themselves to a 17-16 win.
"It's good to be back home. That team can hit," said NMMI head coach Chris Cook. "Chacon has been clutch all year. We kind of got bailed out at the end.
"The throw was good from the second baseman and it just popped out of the catcher's mitt. We'll take it however it comes."
Offense was abundant throughout the doubleheader as each team combined to hit eight home runs.
In Game 1, NMMI took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Gavon Clemons had an RBI-double to highlight the inning.
The Broncos (19-11, 4-10) rallied for four more runs in the bottom of the second as Clemons crushed a two-run home run.
NMMI extended its lead to 10-0 when Edwin Martinez Pagani hit an RBI single and Guillermo Borquez drove in a run with a single in the bottom of the third.
The final run of the game came off a sacrifice fly by Josh Crabtree that plated home Vanasse.
NMMI scattered 10 hits as Martinez Pagani went 2 for 3 with a single, double and an RBI.
Clemons finished 2 for 3 with three RBIs while Crabtree had a single, double and two RBIs to go 2 for 2.
Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the first to start Game 2, the Broncos rallied for four runs in the inning. Ryan Flake had an RBI double to highlight the rally.
Clemons then blasted a solo home run to extend NMMI's lead to three runs in the bottom of the third.
The Broncos pushed across three more runs in the fourth after a pair of RBI singles by Martinez Pagani and Borquez. Solis added to the big inning with an RBI double.
Off of seven hits, which included a two-run home run by Preston Mills, the Plainsmen took an 11-9 lead in the top of the fifth.
Aided by a three-run homer by Borquez in the bottom of the fifth, NMMI regained the lead with a 14-11 advantage after stringing together a five-run rally.
A home run by Richard Witherspoon cut the deficit to two for the Plainsmen in the top of the sixth.
Frank Phillips College (25-20, 7-11) then got another solo homer from Yadier Medina in the top of the seventh which got the Plainsmen back within one.
Medina later hit a three-run homer in the top of the ninth to give his team a two-run lead.
NMMI fought its way back as Crabtree hit a leadoff single to setup the game-tying homer by Chacon.
Armando Ramirez Jr. came into the clutch with a double. Martinez Pagani was later intentionally walked to put runners at the corners with one out.
Solis then lifted a pop fly into shallow right field that allowed Vanasse to score after the catcher couldn't quite field the throw from the second baseman.
Five Broncos had a multi-hit night.
Solis went 3 for 5 with two doubles, a single and five RBIs while Borquez also drove in five runs going 3 for 5 with a single, double and home run.
Chacon finished 3 for 5 with a single, double, home run and three RBIs and Henner Gonzalez Rodriguez added going 2 for 4 with two singles and an RBI.
Martinez Pagani tallied three singles and an RBI to go 3 for 4.
Adrian Rubio got the win on the mound after throwing 2/3 of an inning allowing two earned runs on two hits.
NMMI concludes the series with another doubleheader Saturday beginning at noon.
"Tomorrow's going to be a tough day. They're going to be ready to play and ready to hit," Cook added. "We're gonna have to play well to win the series."