Prior to playing for the championship of the Morenci Lion’s baseball tournament over the weekend, Holbrook’s baseball team won an offensive showdown in their regular season opener last week vs Ganado.
Hosting the Hornets last Tuesday, the Roadrunners gave up 6 runs in the top of the first to the visitors. The concerns over that early deficit went away quickly when the Birds scored 10 runs in the bottom of the first. They added 6 more runs in the second, building their lead to 16-6. Both teams scored 4 runs in the third and matched each other again with 2 in the fourth, leaving Holbrook on the correct end of a 22-12 five-inning outcome.
Holbrook pounded out 20 hits in the game. Matthias Montijo went 4 for 4 with a triple and a home run. Justin Maestas was 3 for 4 including a pair of doubles and 3 RBI. Niko Espitia went 3 for 4 with a double and 3 RBI. Ty Larson was 1 for 3 with a double and 2 RBI. Hayden Eisele went 2 for 3 with a double and 2 RBI. Lukai Frenette was 2 for 4. Ben Eisele went 2 for 3 and Josh LeSueur was 3 for 4 with 2 RBI.
Ben Eisele pitched two and two-third innings, giving up 2 runs on 3 hits with 4 strikeouts and walked 3. Hayden Eisele pitched one-third of an inning allowing 6 runs on 2 hits with 2 walks. LeSueur pitched two innings allowing 4 runs on 2 hits with 1 strikeout and walked four batters.
Holbrook played six games in the five-team tournament hosted by Morenci’s Lions Club. They played two games each of the three days, splitting both games each day to finish the tournament with a 3-3 record.
Thursday’s first game saw them lose a defensive battle to host Morenci by a final of 2-1. Holbrook had just 4 hits in the loss, 3 of those 4 came from Montijo. Frenette pitched well, giving up just 2 runs on 3 hits with 4 strikeouts and walked 3.
Their second game on Thursday was another defensive outcome with Holbrook prevailing 2-0 over St. Johns. Holbrook had 5 total hits from five different players. Stefan Trujillo had the only extra-base hit with a double. Espitia, Frenetter, and Hayden Eisele combined to pitch the shutout giving up just 6 hits, with 6 collective strikeouts.
Friday, Holbrook dropped their first game to a talented Mogollon team by a final of 13-2. Holbrook had just 4 hits with two coming from Montijo.
Holbrook defeated St. Johns for a second time in Friday’s second game. This time the final was 8-4. The Birds scored 5 first-inning runs, added another in the second, and 2 more in the fourth for the win. Larson, Frenette, and Trujillo each had 2 hits in the win. Both of Frenette’s hits were triples.
Saturday morning the Birds faced Morenci for a second time and avenged the earlier loss with a 6-2 win. Holbrook trailed 2-0 until the fifth inning where they tied the game. Four additional runs in the sixth secured the win, which put them into the championship game on Saturday afternoon.
In the championship game, they ran into the Mogollon team for the second time. The Mustangs are early season favorites to win the 1A state title this year, and their 17-6 win over Holbrook in the title game may be an indicator of that.
Mogollon took early control of the game with 11 first-inning runs. They added 3 more in each of the second and third innings. Holbrook scored 3 in the third and added 3 more in the fifth but couldn’t extend the game with the mercy rule in effect.
Montijo homered, Ben Eisele had a triple, and Hayden Eisele doubled in the loss.
Holbrook is now 5-6 overall on the season. They will be on spring break until resuming play on March 17, when they host Round Valley. The following day Chinle comes to town.
