NMMI Sports Press
The Broncos won a pair of seven-inning contests against the Luna Community College RoughRiders Tuesday afternoon at NMMI Ballpark, mercy-ruling the visitors 18-6 in the first game, then rallying for a 5-4 victory in the second.
NMMI took advantage of six free bases in the first inning and three Broncos belted homers, including a moon shot over the left field wall by sophomore first baseman Owen Alsup, on the way to 11 runs.
"We kind of jumped on their first guy and hit some balls pretty hard," said NMMI head coach Chris Cook. "That home run by Alsup, that was one of the furthest hit balls to left I've ever seen. It was pretty impressive."
The Broncos added two more runs in the second inning and five in the third and the game ended after five innings. Sophomore second baseman Rhett Stokes went 2-for-3 with four runs batted in, freshman third baseman Jun Hyuk Kwon was 2-for-4 with three RBIs and Alsup went 1-for-2 with three RBIs and two walks.
Sophomore lefty Demitrius DiMatteo allowed six runs off 11 hits with three strikeouts and one walk over two-and-two-thirds innings. Freshman reliever Julio Ramos pitched the final two and a third, fanning two and walking two, but allowing no runs off three hits.
"Ramos was a little wild, but he was in 2-0 counts with the majority of the hitters he faced," said Cook. "Can't live like that, it's not gonna work long term, but to his credit, he was able to get through that without much damage."
Game 2 started similarly, as starting pitcher Luis Patron sat the side down in order and the Bronco offense got on the scoreboard early when Kwon doubled to left, clearing the loaded bases to give the Institute a 3-0 lead.
But NMMI wouldn't score again until the bottom of the sixth as the Broncos stranded 10 baserunners.
"I thought their pitchers did a good job against us, and those were their bullpen arms, because they just played four games over the weekend," said Cook. "We missed some balls, but overall I thought they did a good job executing pitches. We were able to hang in and give ourselves a chance late."
Sophomore outfielder Fran Gross led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk, followed by a Stokes single. Sophomore shortstop B.Y. Choi then singled to right to plate Stokes, but not before Gross crossed home on a bad pickoff attempt by the Luna pitcher.
Patron pitched four innings, allowing four runs off seven hits with two Ks and two walks. Freshman right hander Dong Woon Yuk pitched the fifth inning, allowing no hits, and sophomore reliever Leandro Tamaki finished off the last two innings, allowing a hit and a walk.
Stokes went 3-for-4 with a run scored and Choi was 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI. Sophomore outfielder Edrien Martinez was 2-for-3 with a run scored and a walk.
The Broncos (15-1) will travel to Las Vegas, N.M. for two more with Luna next Tuesday before hosting University of the Southwest's JV squad for a doubleheader starting at noon on Wednesday, March 1.