Here's the report from the home town paper.
Cavemen win series vs. SFHS
By Jeff Keller
Current-Argus Sports Editor
Posted: 05/10/2009 12:04:57 AM MDT
CARLSBAD — The Cavemen secured a berth in the state quarterfinals as they took two-of-three games from the Santa Fe High Demons this weekend at the Cavemen Corral.
Carlsbad took Game One of the series, 6-1, Friday evening. The Demons claimed Game Two Saturday morning, 13-5. Carlsbad bounced back to claim the deciding Game Three, 10-4.
After dropping the second game of the series by eight runs, the Cavemen wasted little time building a lead in the third and final game of the series.
The Cavemen retired the Demons in order in the top of the first inning and Ryan Armendarez reached base with a one out walk in the bottom of the first inning.
Jered Meek then reached base on a single and Matt Chavarria drove in Armendarez and Meek with a two RBI triple to centerfield.
Game Two starting pitcher Trey Gonsalez then drove in Chavarria with a sacrifice fly RBI to put the Cavemen ahead, 3-0.
The Demons were held scoreless over the first three innings. Carlsbad put five more runs on the board in the bottom of the third inning.
Parker Stephens led off the bottom of the third inning with a walk. Meek drove in Stephens with an RBI triple to left field.
Chavarria then drove in Meek with an RBI single. Andrew Castillo drove in two runs in the inning for Carlsbad with a two RBI double to left field that put Carlsbad ahead, 7-0. Duce Ford drove in another Cavemen run with a single to put the Cavemen up, 8-0.
SFHS scored its first run of the game in the top of
the fourth inning on an RBI single by Roby Romero.
The Demons cut the Cavemen lead to 8-2 in the top of the sixth inning on an RBI double by Kyle Mayfield.
The Cavemen put two more runs on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning as Stephens reached base on a single and eventually came around to score on a passed ball, and Armendarez drove in the final run of the game for the Cavemen with a groundout RBI.
Santa Fe put one run on the board with one out in the top of the seventh inning on an RBI triple by Anthony Ratliff.
Santa Fe's Konrad Mueller then stepped to the plate and took the first pitch for a ball from Gonsalez.
Before the second pitch of the at-bat, Mueller stepped into the batter's box and raised his left hand and pointed to the fence in left field, appearing to try and call his shot.
Mueller was immediately ejected from the game by the home plate umpire. Mueller threw down his bat and began to argue with the home plate umpire. His teammates tried to restrain him and eventually law enforcement officials were called in to restrain Mueller and take him off of the playing field.
The incident with Mueller was one of several confrontations between SFHS coaches and players and the umpires during Saturday's two games.
Cavemen coach Kenny Groves said the numerous confrontations were disrespectful to the game and he was proud of the way his coaches and players conducted themselves in the series.
"I am very proud of our coaching staff and I am very proud of our kids because we never said a bad word to their kids, their coaching staff or anybody," Groves said. "We did a great job of keeping our composure and I couldn't be happier about that."
Gonsalez said he and his Cavemen teammates tried to block out all of the confrontations and delays that ensued from the Santa Fe players and coaches.
"We just tried to keep our heads focused strictly on the game," Gonsalez said. "We weren't worried about any of the outside things. We weren't going to get into any of that."
Eventually after the delay, the game resumed. The Demons plated one more run in the top of the seventh but Santa Fe's Andy Hyde grounded out to shortstop for the final out of the game as the Cavemen picked up the game and series victory.
Gonsalez got the win on the mound for the Cavemen in Game Three as he went the distance striking out four, while allowing nine hits. He gave up four earned runs and walked two batters.
Gonsalez said his fastball and curveball were working well for him Saturday. He said at the start of the game he understood the importance of the game, but he didn't let it get to him.
"At the beginning of the game I knew this game was huge," Gonsalez said. "But I didn't feel the pressure too much. We have been in big games like this before so I felt pretty good."
Meek and Chavarria had multiple hits for the Cavemen as both went 2-for-3 in the game. Chavarria drove in three runs in the Cavemen victory.
Mueller was the losing pitcher in the contest as he pitched two-and-one-third innings allowing eight runs on six hits. He walked two, hit one batter and struckout four.
With the victory, the Cavemen move on to face the No. 1 seed in the state tournament La Cueva at 11 a.m. Thursday at Rio Rancho.
Gonsalez said the Cavemen are looking forward to facing La Cueva.
"We are excited to get to play La Cueva," Gonsalez said. "We have been wanting to play La Cueva for a long time. I know that they say they are the best, but I hope that we can overcome that."
Groves agreed with Gonsalez's statement.
"We have to go up against La Cueva and I can't wait," Groves said. "They are the best team and they are No. 1 in the state and that is who we want to play La Cueva has kind of earned the reputation like Carlsbad has, or even had if you want to put it that way, but I don't think our kids are intimidated by them. I think we are equal to them. They may be rated No. 1 and they may have a lot of good pitchers, but I have a lot of confidence in these kids. We can play with anybody in the state if we play well and don't make very many mistakes. So we are looking forward to it."
In Saturday's first game, the Demons took control early as they plated six runs in the first two innings. Hyde had an RBI ground rule double in the top of the first inning, while Roby Romero drove in two more runs for the Demons in the first with a single to left field.
Romero brought in three more runs in the top of the second with one swing of the bat. He blasted a three-run home run over the left field fence to put the Demons up, 6-0, going into the bottom of the second.
Carlsbad cut into the SFHS lead in the bottom of the second as Gonsalez led off the bottom of the second with a walk.
Castillo then drove a two-run home run over the right field fence to cut the Demon lead to 6-2.
Nate Freeman reached base on a walk later in the inning and Stephens advanced Freeman to third base with a double to left field.
Meek drove Freeman and Stephens in with a two RBI single to right field to cut the SFHS lead to 6-4 after two.
Romero added to his RBI total for Santa Fe in the fourth inning as he drove in a run with a single to left field that put the Demons ahead, 7-4.
Mueller put the Demons ahead, 9-4, in the top of the fifth inning with a two-run home run to left-centerfield.
SFHS added four more runs in the top of the seventh inning with an RBI bases loaded walk by A.J. Trujillo and a three-run single by Kyle Mayfield.
The Cavemen scored the final run of the game in the bottom of the seventh on a sacrifice fly RBI by Josh McCormick. Stephens, Meek and Castillo had multiple hits for the Cavemen in Saturday's first game. Stephens was 2-for-4, while Castillo was 2-for-3. Meek went 3-for-4 in the game.
In the three game series, Meek went 7-for-11 with four RBI, five singles, a double and a triple.
Groves said even when his team dropped Saturday's first game, he was still confident they would prevail in the series.
"I was never nervous today," Groves said. "Even when they were up 13-5 I felt like we were going to score runs. We were seeing the ball well all day. After the first game we went into our locker room and I was not nervous, the kids were not nervous. The players felt like they could beat this team and they did. I am very proud. I would have liked to end this series in two games, but Santa Fe had a good day. They hit the ball well and made some good plays out there. They can be a very good team, but in a best two-out-of-three series, the best team always comes out on top."
