Peter Dindinger — NMMI Sports Press
The Western Junior College Athletic Conference baseball opener was filled with high emotions and occasional suspense.
On Saturday afternoon, the New Mexico Military Institute Broncos split a doubleheader with the Howard College Hawks.
NMMI won Game 1 by a score of 7-5 after a walk-off two-run home run by Guillermo Borquez.
Four homers were hit in the second game as the Hawks came away with the 19-12 win at NMMI Ballpark.
In the first game, NMMI trailed 2-0 in the top of the first as the Hawks struck first with a pair of back-to-back RBI doubles.
The Broncos tied up the game in the bottom half of the second on a two-out rally.
Diego Solis hit an RBI single to plate home Jesh Leckey while Armando Ramirez Jr. scored on a wild pitch.
Howard rallied for three runs in the sixth. Keenan Spence highlighted the big inning with a two-run home run.
Down 5-2, B.Y. Choi helped cut the deficit down to one run for NMMI in the bottom half of the sixth when he hit a two RBI double.
To lead off the final inning, Solis hit a double. Noah Nunez came in to pinch run as the Broncos were quickly down two outs after a pair of groundouts.
Ryan Flake delivered the game-tying RBI single to center.
Borquez then came up to hit the equalizer on the second pitch of the at bat.
NMMI narrowly out hit the Hawks 10-9.
Leckey and Solis went a combined 4 for 6 with three singles, a double and an RBI.
Borquez hit his first home run of the season.
Jorge Garcia earned the no decision after tossing six innings and allowing nine hits and five earned runs with six strikeouts.
Marc Rios was tagged with the win to improve to 2-0 on the season. Rios pitched a scoreless and hitless seventh inning to drop his ERA to 2.02.
The Broncos trailed 4-0 in the second inning to start Game 2.
Drew Durst hit a three-run home run while Nicholas Thibodeau hit a leadoff solo homer.
In a split second, the momentum shifted over to the Broncos during the bottom of the third when they put together a seven-run rally.
Ramirez Jr. started off the big inning with a sacrifice fly that brought in Edrien Martinez.
Flake and Borquez then hit back-to-back RBI singles to tie the game at 4-4.
With the bases loaded after two straight walks, Solis drew a four-pitch walk to break the tie.
An error by the second baseman later allowed two runs to score to give NMMI a 7-4 advantage.
Aided by nine hits and an error, Howard College gained back the momentum in the top of the fifth when it rallied for 10 runs to take a 14-7 lead.
Trent Warstler hit a two-run home run during the rally.
NMMI slowly began to chip away after an RBI single by Adrian Rubio during the bottom of the sixth.
The Broncos scored four runs in the seventh to trail by two runs.
Trotter Boston lined a two-run blast off the scoreboard in right center. Rhett Stokes then delivered a clutch RBI double.
Ramirez Jr. followed suit with an RBI single to right.
Howard College tacked on five insurance runs in the final two innings to solidify the victory.
The Hawks had 15 hits to NMMI's 14.
Stokes went 3 for 5 with two singles, a double and an RBI. He also stole his team-leading ninth base of the season.
Flake and Borquez went a combined 4 for 10 with three singles, a double and three RBI.
Boston's home run gives NMMI 11 for the season.
NMMI starting pitcher Megumi Fukuda threw 1.2 innings as he allowed four hits and four earned runs while he struck out four batters.
Julian Lopez suffered the loss after giving up six earned runs on six hits in 2.1 innings.
The Bronco bullpen comprised of Lopez, Henrique Date, Jackson Peters and A.J. Palomino combined to strikeout nine batters.
>> UP NEXT: NMMI closes out its four-game series with Howard College with a doubleheader on Sunday beginning at 12 p.m.
Game 1
NMMI 7, Howard 5 (7)
HOW……2000030 — 5 9 0
NMMI….0200023 — 7 10 0
Luke Krkovski, Greg Ross (6). Jorge Garcia, Marc Rios (7). W — Rios. L — Ross. 2B — Howard: Aaron Manias, Hunter Simmons, Keenan Spence; NMMI: B.Y. Choi, Diego Solis. 3B — None. HR — Howard: Keenan Spence; NMMI: Guillermo Borquez.
Game 2
Howard 19, NMMI 12 (9)
HOW……0400(10)0023 — 19 15 2
NMMI…..007001400 — 12 14 4
Max Lankford, Braelin Pillot (3), Karson Shepherd (3), Jack Quinn (7). Megumi Fukuda, Julian Lopez (2), Henrique Date (5), Jackson Peters (8), A.J. Palomino (9). W — Shepherd. L — Lopez. 2B — Howard: CJ Difiglia, Alejandro Rosado; NMMI: Ryan Flake, Edrien Martinez, Diego Solis, Rhett Stokes. 3B — None. HR — Howard: Nicholas Thibodeau, Trent Warstler, Drew Durst; NMMI: Trotter Boston.
Records — Howard College (5-11, 1-1); NMMI (15-6, 1-1).