The Pagosa Springs High School Pirate baseball team got off to a strong start with a 2-1 record in its opening weekend.
“I mean, all things considered, you know, going 2-1 with our only loss against a 4A school, I’m pretty pleased with this weekend,” said coach Jon Wells.
The Pirates traveled to Aztec High School in New Mexico for an opening-weekend tournament.
The first game was against Dolores on Thursday, March 5.
The Pirates won the game 11-7 behind a strong performance from Taylor Wells on the mound and at the plate.
The Pirates quickly got out to a 3-1 lead by the end of the first inning and the scoring continued from there. The Pirates put up four runs in the next four innings while holding the Bears scoreless.
The Pirates tacked on four more runs in the top of the sixth to take an 11-1 lead. The Bears scored six in their final frame, but it wasn’t enough, and the Pirates got the job done.
“The fact that they can scratch and claw their way to one, two, three runs per inning over the course of the game is fantastic,” said Jon Wells. “And they did just that. They scored in six out of the seven innings, so [it was] a great offensive game for us.”
Taylor Wells led the offense, going 3-for-4 with four RBIs in the contest. He ended the game with two doubles and a triple.
Kaeden Iguchi also had a multihit game, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a double.
Noah Bellina went 1-for-3, Angelo Medina went 1-for-2, Jonathan Moncada went 1-for-4, Dylan Dempster went 1-for-4, Angel Ramirez went 1-for-1, Zach Pouyer went 1-for-3 and Sebastian Gonzalez went 1-for-2.
Moncada, Dempster and Ramirez each had an RBI. Pouyer and Gonzalez worked two walks each. Gonzalez, Taylor Wells, Medina and Ramirez all stole at least one base.
Pouyer started the game on the mound, but after just three at-bats he came out of the game due to some arm discomfort. Taylor Wells pitched in relief of Pouyer and threw three scoreless innings in which he gave up one hit, walked three and struck out six.
“I told them from the very start, getting that first win kind of sets the tone for the season,” said the coach. “I mean, it’s something we can build on, and I was really proud of them.”
The Pirates next game was supposed to be against the Aztec varsity team on Friday, March 6, but because a team dropped out of the tournament, at the last moment the Pirates played the Aztec junior varsity team instead.
It didn’t matter to the Pirates; they came out of the game with their second straight win to open the season, beating Aztec 10-9.
Despite the win, the Pirates played a much different game than the game before. They were held to just three runs through the first six innings.
Heading into the ninth, Aztec was up 9-3, but the Pirates put up a seven-spot in the seventh and final inning to go up one run.
Pouyer came in in the bottom of the seventh and closed the door for the Pirates. He allowed no hits, no runs and struck out two.
“They stayed positive, and that kind of drove us to the win,” said Jon Wells. “Some big plays there in the top of the seventh to take the lead, and then Zach, who’s my player of the game for the Aztec game, came in and closed it out and pitched a bottom of the seventh to get the win.”
Dempster and Pouyer each had multihit games. Dempster went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and Pouyer went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Taylor Wells went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Bellina went 1-for-1, drawing a walk and getting hit by a pitch his other two times at the plate. Aaron Sowle went 1-for-2 with two RBIs and a walk, and Moncada went 1-for-4.
Iguchi started for the Pirates on Friday, giving up five hits and six runs (zero earned) in four innings. Moncada provided middle relief before Pouyer closed the game, giving up four hits and three runs (one earned) in two innings.
Errors have been an early issue for the Pirates, noted the coach. Through two games the Pirates committed 10 errors.
The final game of the weekend was on Saturday, March 7, against 4A Kirtland Central.
The Pirates lost the game 13-1 in what the coach called a learning experience.
“We’ve got a 23-game season —there’s going to be ups and downs. And, collectively for the weekend, we played some really great baseball,” said Jon Wells. “More than anything, this game showed us what we got to work on, which is great.”
Pouyer and Bellina recorded the Pirates’ only two hits.
Bellina’s RBI double in the fourth scored Moncada, who reached via a walk — the Pirates’ only run of the game.
Taylor Wells gave up nine hits and nine runs (seven earned) in his four innings of work as the starter. Dempster gave up four runs (zero earned) on two hits in his one inning in relief.
The Pirates recorded five errors in the game.
This week, the Pirates will play a pair of doubleheaders.
The Pirates will face Cedaredge twice on Friday, March 13, and North Fork twice on Saturday, March 14.
Ahead of the week’s action, the Pirates are looking to shore up their defense and pitching in order to limit the amount of free bases given up, noted the coach.
“We had, in the Aztec tournament, 14 walks and 13 hit batsmen, so that’s a lot of free base runners there that we’re trying to eliminate or at least significantly reduce for this coming weekend,” he said.
The team will also be adding three new players now that the basketball season is over.
Jon Wells indicated he is excited for the added pitching depth headed into the weekend and, though the additional players may not start on the mound or in the lineup, they’ll definitely have opportunities to make an impact.
jsellner@orourkemediagroup.com
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