NMMI Sports Press

The Broncos blanked the Wayland Baptist JV squad 6-0 and 10-0 Saturday at NMMI Ballpark in a pair of games that featured solid pitching, but a little less offense compared to previous weekends.

"It was a different type of pitching and I'm not sure we'll see that again, but we need to be able to make better adjustments on pitch velocity," said NMMI head coach Chris Cook. "There were a few swings that were out of control, but for the most part we were caught in between pitches and our timing wasn't very good today."

Sophomore right hander Marc Rios got the start for the Broncos, allowing two hits and fanning six over four scoreless innings in Game 1.

Freshman relief pitcher Adrian Ochoa saw his first action of the season, throwing 11 pitches to retire the side in the top of the fifth inning.

"He was in the strike zone. Mixed his fastball and slider pretty well," Cook said. "I know his fastball's got good movement on it."

Chan Yoon made quick work of the sixth inning before another freshman reliever, Diego Jimenez, got his first chance to pitch this year in the final frame of the seven-inning contest. Jimenez saw four batters, walked the first, but struck out the next three.

"Jimenez was a little sped up during his first batter and his fastball was a little elevated, but once he starts throwing his slider, he's got really good stuff." Cook said. "He's a guy that we've been kind of rehabbing a little and he's got a chance to be an important guy in the back end of our pen later this spring."

The Institute offense had a slow start to the day, but eventually put up the first run in the bottom of the third when outfielder Fran Gross walked himself on, then took advantage of multiple errors by the Wayland battery to cross home plate.

Freshman third baseman Jun Hyuk Kwon plated sophomore outfielder Edrien Martinez with a sac-fly to right field in the fourth. Freshman designated hitter Bernie Socarras-Puig watched four pitches go by and took his base before stealing second, reaching third on another error by the pitcher, and then scoring on a line-drive single by freshman catcher Adonis Bernal.

The Broncos added two more runs in the fifth off hits from shortstop B.Y. Choi and first baseman Owen Alsup, and a little more help from the WBU hurler who tossed a wild pitch allowing Choi to cross the plate. Second baseman Rhett Stokes hit a two-out single in the sixth and then scored on a double from Choi to score the final run of the first game.

Game 2 saw more action early as the Broncos put up three runs in the bottom of the second and scored in every innings thereafter on the way to a 10-0 mercy-rule victory.

Choi went 2-for-3 and drove in two of his four runs with a homer in the fourth. Stokes was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored and Socarras-Puig went 2-for-3 with two runs scored.

Right hander Jackson Peters picked up his fourth win in as many tries, allowing three hits over four innings with three Ks and a walk. Freshman reliever Yuki Shigeyasu struck out the first hitter of the fifth, allowed a single, then got the Pioneers to line into a double play.

The Broncos put up four runs in the bottom of the fifth to end the game, with the final runs coming in off a Choi ground-rule double that went over the Wayland outfielder then bounced over the right field wall.

After 14 games, Stokes has a .604 batting average with 29 hits, eight for extra bases and five home runs with just four strikeouts. Choi has blasted six baseballs out of the park and plated a team-high 29 runs. Three Broncos have averages in the .400s and almost every regular player is above .300.

NMMI (13-1) has another home doubleheader on Tuesday against Luna Community College and then the schedule spreads out a bit before conference play begins.

"This two and a half week period of weird scheduling is going to be the toughest part, and it has nothing to do with the games played," Cook said. "But the routine will be different, you get out of sync. We have to use the downtime effectively."

Tuesday's doubleheader starts at noon.