Peter Dindinger — NMMI Sports Press
As Western Junior College Athletic Conference play begins in six days, the New Mexico Military Institute Bronco baseball team is preparing for the grind that lies ahead.
On Saturday afternoon, the Broncos notched a sweep of the Wayland Baptist JV by the scores of 11-4 and 11-1 at NMMI Ballpark.
"Every conference series around the league starting Friday is going to be a grind," said NMMI head coach Chris Cook. "We've got a lot of new guys as well that get to experience what a conference series is like.
"We're gonna go out and do the best we can to try and win Game 1. We take it one day at a time from here on out."
Game 1 was highlight by a solid offensive performance from Owen Allsup, who finished 3 for 3 with a single, two doubles and five RBI.
The Pioneers took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning with an RBI double by Jasper Sanchez.
An error by the first baseman allowed Armando Ramirez Jr. to reach base, which set up an RBI triple by Adrian Rubio in the bottom half of the first.
B.Y. Choi then hit a sacrifice fly to shallow right to give NMMI the 2-1 lead.
The Broncos rallied for four runs in the second to increase their lead to five runs.
After a hit batter and a single by Trey Starr III, Alsup lined an RBI single to right. Rhett Stokes then drove in a run on a groundout to short.
Ramirez Jr. delivered an RBI single while Rubio legged out an RBI triple to highlight the big inning.
Alsup came in the clutch in the bottom of the third when he drilled a two RBI double into left to make the score 8-1.
Wayland Baptist cut the deficit to four runs in the fourth. Danny Arambula hit a two RBI single in the frame.
In the bottom of the fourth, NMMI tacked on three more runs with a two RBI double by Alsup and an RBI single by Diego Solis.
Megumi Fukuda improved his record to 3-1 after throwing two innings of one-hit ball with four strikeouts.
Jose Cabanillas Jr., Marc Rios, Leandro Tamaki, Albert Oliva Velez and Julian Lopez relieved the final five innings allowing a combined seven hits with six strikeouts.
NMMI scattered 12 hits.
Rubio finished 2 for 4 with two triples and two RBI while Lopez went 3 for 4 with two singles and a double.
Solis hit two singles and drove in a run to go 2 for 2.
In Game 2, the Pioneers drove in a run in the top of the first off an RBI double by Kyler Jorgensen.
The Broncos tied things up in the bottom half of the inning as Stokes scored on an error by the pitcher. Choi hit an RBI ground out to plate home Ramirez Jr., giving NMMI a 2-1 lead.
Stokes later drove in Edrien Martinez in the second on a groundout to short.
NMMI scored three runs in the bottom of the third. Choi scored on a wild pitch while Martinez hit an RBI single to drive in Noah Nunez.
Guillermo Borquez capped off the rally with an RBI double.
The Broncos loaded up the bases in fourth. Choi and Nunez each drew back to back walks to begin the carousel.
Jesh Leckey then made the score 9-1 after scoring on a wild pitch.
In the fifth, Dylan Shea and Christian Rocha each singled while Stokes drew a four-pitch walk to load up the bases once more.
Leckey was hit by pitch to bring in a run.
Nunez then hit a grounder to short that resulted in an error that allowed Stokes to score to end the game early via the 10-run rule.
The Bronco offense had only six hits.
Borquez had the only extra-base hit as he finished 1 for 2 with a double, walk and an RBI.
NMMI took advantage of 10 walks in the game.
Nunez went 1 for 3 with a single, a walk and two RBI.
Jorge Garcia moves to 4-1 on the year after tossing a two-hitter in two innings with three strikeouts.
Drew Price and Rubio combined for three shutout innings with five strikeouts.
"At this point now we're gonna do whatever we got to do, lineup wise, and on the mound to try to win each individual conference game one at a time," Cook added. "We'll have a good test with Howard coming up on Friday. They got a decent amount of returning players."
>> UP NEXT: NMMI hosts Howard College for a doubleheader beginning Friday at noon.
Game 1
NMMI 11, Wayland Baptist JV 4 (7)
WAYL……1003000 — 4 8 1
NMMI…..242300x — 11 12 3
Blake Freeman, Dalton Enberg (3), Nate Wooldridge (5). Megumi Fukuda, Jose Cabanillas Jr. (3), Marc Rios (4), Leandro Tamaki (5), Albert Oliva Velez (6), Julian Lopez (7). W — Fukuda. L — Freeman. 2B — Wayland: Jasper Sanchez; NMMI: Owen Alsup (2), Julian Lopez. 3B — NMMI: Adrian Rubio (2). HR — None.
Game 2
NMMI 11, Wayland Baptist JV 1 (5)
WAYL……10000 — 1 4 2
NMMI…..21332 — 11 6 0
Matt Putt, Tanner Polston (2), Darian Torres (4). Jorge Garcia, Drew Price (3), Adrian Rubio (4). W — Garcia. L — Putt. 2B — Wayland: Kyler Jorgensen. NMMI: Guillermo Borquez. 3B — None. HR — None.
Records — Wayland Baptist JV (2-14); NMMI (14-5).