The Lobos faced three teams ranked in the top five last week and came away with two wins. On Tuesday they fell to the current top ranked team, Payson, 5-4 in 10 innings. On Friday they defeated the previous number one team Holbrook, 6-2, and on Saturday the Lobos took care of what was fifth ranked Chino Valley by a final of 3-2.
Snowflake fell behind in the first against Payson, but tied the game at 2-2 after three inning. The Longhorns edged ahead with single runs in the fourth and fifth only to see the Lobos push across two in the bottom of the seventh to send the game to extra innings. Finally in the top of the 10th, the Longhorns scored the winning run.
Both teams finished with only eight hits in the 10 innings. Jesus Juarez went 2 for 3 and Marc McCleve was 2 for 5. Dylan Ervien, Tarren Reidhead, JR Fox and Arizona Bryant each had one hit.
Fox pitched 91/3 innings, giving up just four runs on eight hits with four walks. Fernando Quintana worked two-thirds of an inning allowing one run on two hits with a walk.
Snowflake took early control of the game with Holbrook in the bottom of the first by scoring four runs. The Roadrunners scored once in the first and again in the second, but the Lobo defense held them the rest of the way. Two insurance runs in the third were enough for Snowflake to upset the Birds 6-2.
After playing at Show Low on Tuesday, the Lobos, now 7-3 and ranked fifth in power points, will play in the three-day Wolves Classic tournament in Goodyear. After playing Trevor Browne on Thursday evening, Snowflake will face Holbrook and Combs on Friday. Saturday’s games will be determined by pool play results in the first two days. Next Tuesday the Lobos will return to region play when they host Winslow.
