Rijo Mashes T-Birds to Victory
Last weekend, the New Mexico Junior College baseball team lost three of four to Midland College. The Thunderbirds one win however, was a convincing one. Wednesday night, with the help of first basemen Ryan Rijo, the T-Birds played the Chaparrals in a non-conference game and out-slugged Midland, winning 26-14 in seven innings.
Rijo had a career day, hitting three home runs, driving in six runs, and scoring four times. The T-Bird first baseman was 4-for-7 and his one at hit that wasn't a homer, was a double. The sophomore finished with 14 total bases.
Early on it looked to be a quick blowout. However, it was anything but.
The T-Birds sent 14 players to bat in the first inning. Every T-Bird reached base safely except one, Cade Acrey. Of the eight T-Birds who did make it on base safely, they all scored in the first inning as well.
Rody Baker scored twice in the first inning, his second run of the inning coming on a home run. Jake Dickerson drove in three with a three-run homer and Soterio Ramirez had two hits in the first as NMJC jumped out to a 9-0 lead.
The T-Birds batted around again in the third, and in the process, added six more runs. Ryan Rijo clubbed a solo homer to start the inning. Acrey, though he reached on an error, did finally score in the third.
With five more runs in the fifth, the T-Birds put the game out of reach. Rijo belted his second homer of the game, a three-run shot. In the top of the sixth, NMJC scored six times. Rijo hit a solo shot in the sixth while Avery Tuck added a two-run shot.
Midland's starting pitcher, Branden Hatley, recorded just two outs before being pulled when the T-Birds turned the lineup over in the top of the first. He allowed seven runs, five earned, on four hits and two walks. Jacob Webb took over and face two batters, retiring neither.
Overall, the Chaparrals used six pitchers.
Midland scored once in the bottom of the first, fourth, and sixth while adding four in the third and seven in the fourth.
The T-Birds collected 23 hits in the win and every batter, including pinch hitters Colton Buckner and Jacob Cubillos, had at least one hit. Joab Gonzalez, Dickerson, Tuck, Rijo, Ramirez, and Hernandez all had multiple hits.
Ryan Roberson started for NMJC and made it through three innings. He gave up five runs, though only one was earned, on six hits. Myles Lucky came on in relief, allowing eight runs on six hits and one walk while striking out three in 1.2 innings of work.
Allen Mejia faced two batters, walking them both, before giving way to Anthony Chavez who closed out the game and got the win. Chavez allowed one run on one hit and one walk over 1.1 innings of work while striking out three. Former Hobbs Eagle David Ortega pitched the final inning. Ortega, a 2017 Hobbs graduate, recorded a perfect inning, striking out all three batters he faced to close out the T-Birds' win.
Next up for the T-Birds (23-10) is a Western Junior College Athletic Conference series against New Mexico Military Institute this weekend. NMJC will host NMMI for two games on Friday and then will play a pair in Roswell on Saturday. NMJC will have its Military Appreciation Day before the first game of its doubleheader on Friday.