NMMI Sports Press
The Bronco Baseball team stayed undefeated this weekend at NMMI Ballpark with a hit-fest 23-11 win in Game 3 and a come-from-behind 14-8 victory in Game 4 over the visiting Otero College Rattlers on Sunday.
With consecutive sweeps to start the year, the Broncos are 8-0 on the young season with an offense that looks better every time out, a stingy defense and some solid pitching that has those first two luxuries on its side while it progresses.
"I'm pleased with where we're at. Our offense is a little ahead of where I expected, but I think that's going to be our strong point and we just gotta play," said NMMI head coach Chris Cook. "Our pitchers have got to play knowing that they've got the defense behind them and a team that can score some runs, so there shouldn't be as much pressure on the mound."
The Broncos scored early and often in the opening game Sunday, with innings of three, 10, six and four runs on the way to a five-inning mercy-rule win, but the Rattlers would make things interesting by scoring five in the fourth and six in the fifth.
Sophomore left-hander Demitrius DiMatteo got the start, pitching his way out of trouble in the first three innings before giving up five runs in the fourth. Freshman righty Chan Yoon pitched the fifth innings, allowing five earned runs off five hits with one strikeout, which was the final out of the game.
"DeMatteo got off to a good start, I think he just lost a little focus in his last inning," Cook said. "When you've got that kind of lead, I can't say it's easy to keep your focus as a pitcher, but he has to learn what to do with a lot of downtime between innings when we're hitting like this. But he got himself in trouble with the free bases and that's kind of the theme today. And that's not a bad hitting team."
Sophomore second baseman Rhett Stokes had another stellar game, leading off the bottom of the first with a triple and later sending an Otero pitch to Main Street for three runs. The local product went 3-for-5 with four runs batted in and four scored.
Sophomore first baseman Owen Alsup went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored, including a three-run bomb, and sophomore shortstop B.Y. Choi was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and three runs scored, with his own three-run homer.
"We really had a bunch of guys, especially in Game 1, not missing pitches," said Cook. "We talked about how on opening weekend we got some pitches to hit that we fouled off and this weekend we did a much better job. We hit a lot of balls hard and we have some speed on the team to turn some of those balls into triples and just put more pressure on defenses."
With a big lead early, several non-starters were able to hit and play some defense. Freshmen Alexander Reyes, Elijah Moya and Julio Ramos combined for four hits and five RBIs.
"Those guys work hard every day and they don't get to see much time and you just don't know when the next opportunity will be," said Cook. "So we tried to make some moves without sacrificing too much defensively."
The Rattlers had some momentum going into the final game of the series after scoring the last six runs in Game 3, building up a 6-1 lead before NMMI put up a 5-spot in the bottom of the third to tie it. Otero would score two more in fourth, but again the Broncos answered with their own pair of runs.
After three Institute pitchers gave up runs across the first four innings, the third, sophomore right-hander Leandro Tamaki put up a zero in the fifth. The inning started ominously, with a single and a walk, but ended with a 4-6-3 double play and a ground out.
Tamaki went five and a third innings allowing two runs on four hits with five Ks and two walks, shutting out the Rattlers over the final five innings.
Former Colt pitcher and 2022 Class 3A state champion Luis Patron got the start for the Broncos, allowing two runs over two innings with five walks. Freshman right hander Paul Ruiz pitched the third innings, allowing four runs, two earned, off three hits.
"Patron was rushing down the mound a little bit early and his arm wasn't catching up. He just got out of sync and he'll learn when to feel that, take a deep breath and just go back to pitching. He's a good arm and he's going to be good for us, but he just wasn't able to make that quick adjustment today."
Choi was 3-for-3 with five RBIs, including a pair of two-run blasts that plated Stokes, who was 2-for-3 with an RBI and four runs scored. Sophomore outfielder Fran Gross had two hits, drove in three runs and scored two.
After the games, Cook was optimistic about the direction of his team, despite some rough innings on the mound.
"I won't complain about starting out with eight wins," he said. "We had some chances to lose and we found ways to come back and win. We've just got to fix the little things to prepare ourselves to play a lot of close games."
The Broncos stay at home next week with another four-game series starting at noon on Saturday against the Western Nebraska Cougars. All games will be livestreamed for free at KSVPtv.com.