Saturday, March 22, 2008

Warriors pick up first loss in Eagles' shutout

Elias Mora makes his pitching debut for Socorro, but missing from batting lineup

Nat Holland El Defensor Chieftain Reporter

The Belen Eagles handed the Socorro High School Warriors their first loss with a 10-0 win in five innings in Tuesday's baseball game.

The Warriors' bats came up empty over and over on their home field as fifth-year Belen pitcher Johnny Garcia pitched the Eagles' first shutout of the season. Garcia struck out 13 Socorro batters and only allowed one to get on base. The Eagles (5-4) contended the baserunner got on because of an error, which would give Garcia his first career no-hitter, while Socorro (5-1) counted it as a base hit.

"Average wise if you take your best guy out of the lineup that hurts you," Socorro coach Alan Edmonson said referring to Elias Mora. "Maybe (the team) came out overconfident or with jet lag, but they didn't show up today."

Mora (0-1) made his pitching debut for Socorro, but was unable to bat due to an injured wrist, according to Edmonson. Mora gave up just eight hits in five innings. An equal number of Eagles got on base with walks and errors.

The Eagles didn't waste any time working on the scoreboard. A single from Lucas Sanchez followed an error that allowed Chris Gonzales to get on base. Then cleanup batter Jaime Yalch hammered the ball over the left field fence, and drove in the first three Eagle runs.

"We were down to Robertson and Ruidoso early, and we came back," Edmonson said. "But when you make a couple errors and they hit a three-run home run that can definitely kill your momentum and psyche. It should have been one-two-three out."

Three walks, two errors, and a base hit gave Belen two more runs in the third inning and another two followed in the fourth inning.

"Defensively we missed a lot of routine plays," Edmonson said. "The defense was really poor today."

Without the mistakes, Belen should have only scored a handful of runs, according to Edmonson.

Belen scored their eighth and ninth runs in the fifth inning, and had runners on first and third base with two outs. Belen baserunner Chris Gonzales went to steal second and was eventually caught, but while he was being chased down, Jordan Moore slipped in from third to score Belen's 10th run.

"I knew they were going to do it. That's why we held the timeout right before," Edmonson said. "That's rough when you are the coach and you tell them exactly what to do and things break down."

With Socorro unable to get on the board in the bottom of the fifth, the game ended with the 10-run mercy rule.

"They weren't 10 runs better," Edmonson said of Belen. "Hands down this was our worst game."

Socorro traveled to Thoreau to compete in the Thoreau tournament, and will play the final game today (Saturday). Previous results were unavailable at Chieftain press time.

The Warriors will travel next Saturday, March 29, to play West Las Vegas in a double header; the first game is scheduled to start at 11 a.m.

nholland@dchieftain.com

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