Before the start of the season, Dolores High School baseball coach Rusty Hamilton said that he expected his team to be far better than last year while acknowledging that the Bears would likely experience some growing pains.

Closing out last week against Montezuma-Cortez High School’s junior varsity on April 20, Hamilton’s prediction came to fruition as the Bears produced plenty of offensive highlights, but struggled on the mound in route to a 20-9 defeat.

Leading the charge for the Panthers was sophomore Isiah Pena, who went 4-5 with two doubles, three runs scored and five RBIs. Payson Veach also enjoyed a solid day for M-CHS, going 3-4 at the plate with one double, three runs, and four RBIs.

After its loss to M-CHS, Dolores played a home contest against Ignacio on April 22 and lost 6-1. Ignacio starting pitcher Zach Weinrich pitched all seven innings and allowed just one run and two hits in the victory.

“(Ignacio) threw a lefty against us, and we had a hard time hitting it,” said Dolores manager Rusty Hamilton. “In the field, we were playing really good baseball. The runs they got were on good hits. They just outhit us.”

The Bears then closed their challenging three-game stretch with a 9-6 home victory over Dove Creek on April 25.

The victory was especially gratifying given that Dolores fell behind 2-0 in the top of the first inning and trailed 5-0 entering the bottom of the third before scoring nine unanswered runs to pull ahead 9-5 entering the final frame.

According to Hamilton, triples by Brandon Ward and Neil Farias were key to spurring the Bears’ rally.

Freshmen Ty Smith and Ryan Delano-Martinez each recorded two hits for the Bulldogs, who fell to 0-17 on the season.

Now 6-11 on the season, the Bears’ next game will take place against Center in Pagosa Springs on May 2.