Second-ranked Cimarron-Memorial cruises past Bonanza, 13-4
Cimarron-Memorial’s baseball team did fine without any help Friday, as evidenced by the three home runs hit by the Spartans.
Having a few extra outs to work with made Cimarron even more dangerous.
The opportunistic Spartans scored four unearned runs in the second inning and cruised to a 13-4 victory over host Bonanza to gain some breathing room in the competitive Northwest League.
“We’ll take them any way we can get them,” Cimarron coach Mike Hubel said. “We swung the bat well all game. Early on, those runs were big. Whether you hit them in, however you get them in, they’re still runs.”
Niko Decolati and Luis Flores had solo homers, and Tyler Giovinco hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning for the No. 2 Spartans (19-2, 3-0 Northwest). Giovinco finished 4-for-5 with four RBIs, and Decolati was 3-for-5 with three runs as each player was a double shy of hitting for the cycle.
Trent Bixby, Jeff Griffith and Flores, Nos. 6 through 8 in Cimarron’s lineup, combined to go 6-for-11 with two doubles, a home run, five RBIs and four runs.
“You can’t rely on the top part of your lineup every game, as much as I’d like to,” Hubel said. “It’s nice to see six through eight get some hits and score some runs. … The more times you can turn the lineup over, the better the odds are in your favor.”
Cimarron led 1-0 in the second when a Bonanza error loaded the bases and extended the inning. Giovinco capitalized with a two-run single, and a dropped pop fly on the next batter allowed two more runs to score.
Griffith’s run-scoring double in the third put the Spartans up 6-0, and Decolati led off the fourth with an opposite-field homer to right. Cimarron then seized on another opening when the No. 10 Bengals (12-9, 1-3) couldn’t close out the inning.
After Adam Mitchell reached on a fielder’s choice with two outs, Trevor Lippard hit a check-swing roller down the first-base line. But Lippard avoided the tag to keep the inning alive, and Bixby followed with a run-scoring single to left that gave Cimarron a 9-0 lead.
Bonanza got its runs in the fourth, as Hunter Junge had an RBI infield single before Eric Schultz’s two-run double off Spartans starter Todd Danzeisen. Casey Ladeira added an RBI groundout off reliever Tyler Baca, who threw 2 2/3 innings of one-hit ball.
“Todd pitched well, the defense played well and we got good hitting,” Hubel said. “That’s one thing we’ve been stressing a lot. If we can put all three things together, we can be pretty good.”
Contact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidSchoenLVRJ.