The Socorro Warriors baseball team continues to show improvement despite losing two games in a doubleheader at Hot Springs High School over the weekend.

After a 12-3 loss to the Tigers in the opening game, Socorro bounced back in the second game only to lose the game in brutal fashion on the game’s final play. With the score tied at 12-12, a single scored the game-winner for Hot Springs.

The Warriors came away with nine hits as David Gutierrez Jr. went 2-4 and a pair of RBI. Cullen Baxter had the biggest hit of the game. His three-run single in the top of the sixth was part of a six-run rally that gave Socorro a 12-9 lead.

A fielder’s choice and a dropped third strike tied the contest at 12-12 in the bottom of the inning.

The Warriors got a total of nine hits from Jacob Angel, Alex Amaro, Gutierrez, Angel Perez, Rylan Hicks, Sebastian Mercado and Baxter.

Cenyon Scarborough got the start for the Warriors and sent seven batters back to the dugout, scattering six hits. Only one of the six runs scored while he was on the mound, and over four innings were earned.

Angel and Amaro went to the races on the base paths, with Angel edging out six steals to Amaro’s five. The Warriors swiped 17 bases as a team, with Scarborough nabbing two while Perez, Miguel Armendariz, Hicks, and Mercado stole one base each.

Hot Springs 12 Socorro 3
The Tigers’ Max Legarda limited the Warriors to just four hits as Socorro fell behind 3-0 after the first inning and couldn’t muster the firepower for a rally against Hot Springs in a 12-3 loss.

Freshman right-hander Joseph Rivera struck out five batters and allowed two hits, but with five errors, the Warriors’ defense wasn’t as tight as it needed to be in the District 3-3A opener.

Gutierrez’s relief appearance over two innings included five strikeouts and one hit. Jacob Angel closed out the contest and allowed two earned runs.

Russell Huffman, El Defensor Chieftain Asst. Editor