It’s been a successful trip to Arizona so far for the San Marcos baseball team, which will have the top seed heading into its bracket after going 2-1 in pool-play at the Cherry Hills Classic.
On Thursday night, the Royals beat a strong squad from Colorado, Ralston Valley, 10-3. The Mustangs were 2-0 heading into the game.
“I was talking to the Columbine coach, and he said (Ralston Valley) is one of the better squads in Colorado,” said San Marcos coach Rob Crawford. “They were a physical, fast group but we took the momentum from them early.”
Nick Stathopoulos picked up the first of his two RBIs in the first inning to give the Royals an early lead, and they added three more in the second on hits by Shane Moore, Nick Villegas and Stathopoulos. Ralston Valley’s pitcher committed three errors in the fifth and the Royals tacked on four more runs.
Stathapoulos had three hits and Matt Roberts went 2-for-4 with three RBIs. The biggest story of the game, however, was Jimmy Brakka coming on in relief with the bases loaded in the fourth and striking out the side (he also walked in a run). He went the distance from there and finished with eight strikeouts.
“Jimmy gave us great pitching and the offense was spread around, which is fun to see,” said Crawford.
On Wednesday, San Marcos (7-5) defeated Sunnyside (AZ) 4-1 before falling to Columbine 3-2. Riley Moore hit a homer in the Sunnyside game that Crawford estimated went 420 feet into the wind.
SAN MARCOS 10, RALSTON VALLEY 3
San Marcos…130 042 0 — 10 11 2
Ralston Valley…002 100 0 — 3 7 5
PMoore, Brakka (4) and RMoore. Cheman, Goodenow (4) and Dwyer.
2B — SM: Stathopoulos. RV: Dwyer.
