5-14-2023 8:31am

Congratulations Tularosa Wildcats 2A State Baseball Championship

Chris Edwards Editor

Krazy KALHRadio.org 95.1 FM the voice of the Tularosa Wildcats, and AlamogordoTownNews.com congratulate them on their awesome win of their 4th Baseball State Championship and their first since 2000!

No. 7 Tularosa defeated No. 4 Rehoboth Christian 6-3 to win the 2A State Championship! Looking at the season, Tularosa peaked at the right time.

The seventh seeded Wildcats completed their run through the Class 2A bracket with a 6-3 victory over No. 4 Rehoboth Christian in Saturday’s championship game at the Jennifer Riordan Sports Complex. Just before he made his postgame interview rounds, Tularosa coach Patrick Garcia received a celebratory water cooler dousing from his players.

The surprise was a well executed. The success began seven innings prior, when the Wildcats (19-7) jumped out to a 4-0 lead and received six solid innings from starter Jacoby Apachito to hold off the Lynx (19-7) and earn their 15th consecutive victory to close out the season. It’s Tularosa’s first blue trophy in baseball since 2000 and 4th ever.

Garcia stated to the Albuquerque Journal, “It’s been a long time in between (championships). I knew we had the nucleus when we started, and we just came together halfway through the season.”

Braden Tortalita, Anthony Paz and Ricky Bryant all had multi-hit games for the Wildcats, who jumped on Rehoboth starter Raeden West early by scoring one run in the first and second innings and two in the third. From there, it was an uphill climb that the Lynx just couldn’t complete.

“(Our goal was to) just come out strong, really,” said Tortalita, whose day included a double and two RBIs. “Come out swinging the bat and doing what we do — come out here and score.”

Tularosa’s lead had swelled to 6-1 before Antonio Rivas and Morgan Arsenault drove in runs for Rehoboth to cut the deficit to 6-3 after five innings. That was the extent of the rally, however, as the Lynx would have just one base runner apiece in each of the final two frames.

“We knew they were a very good team,” Garcia extrovert the Albuquerque Journal post game. He continued with that interview saying, “We came out committed to getting on base. … We put points on the board and that puts pressure on the other side.”

The future appears to be bright for the Wildcats next year, who graduates just one senior; Jayden Phillips, from this year’s championship squad. With the 2A title and trophy in hand the early season growing pains seem like little more than a distant memory and today the team is all Smiles!

Stats

Jacoby Apachito 6 IP (Win) 4K, 4H, 3R, BB, HBP

Ricky Bryant IP (Save), H

Anthony Paz 3-4, R, SB

Jayden Phillips 0-4, BB, R

Braden Tortalita 3-4, 2B, 2RBI, R

Adrius Guilez 1-4

Ezekial Bigas 1-3, 2B, R

Ricky Bryant 1-2, RBI, R

Danner Daugherty 1-3

Ayden Esquero 1-2

Jacoby Apachito 0-3, RBI