ALBUQUERQUE – The Rio Rancho High School baseball team survived a late Piedra Vista rally and advanced to the Class 5A championship game in the state baseball tournament after a 6-5 win Friday afternoon at the Jennifer Riordan Spark Kindness Sports Complex in Albuquerque.
The top-seeded Rams will face sixth-seeded Centennial High in the championship game, scheduled for the Santa Ana Star Field at the University of New Mexico on Saturday at noon.
The 12th-seeded Panthers, who advanced to the semifinals after a 4-2 win on Thursday over Volcano Vista, got off to a fast start Friday against Rio Rancho thanks to RBIs from Kendrick Aragon and Keenan Bejar in the top of the first inning.
That lead was short-lived however, after Dylan Archuleta doubled home a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning after back-to-back scoring plays from Vascon Smith and Sean Vigil. The Rams scored four times in the bottom of the first inning and appeared to have command of the game.
The Panthers chipped away at the lead, scoring a run in both the second and third innings and tying up the game.
The game remained deadlocked until the Rams scored twice in the bottom of the fifth inning. A 2-out single by Niko Alcala followed by a Kai Fitak walk led to a tiebreaking double to deep center field which scored both runners and gave Rio Rancho a 6-4 lead.
Rams pitcher Dylan Archuleta, who came into the game in the fifth inning in relief of Fitak, ran into trouble to start the bottom of the seventh inning, giving up a leadoff single to Trey Valdez who advanced to second on a fielding error.
Archuleta was replaced on the mound by Casen Savage, who immediately gave up a triple by Josh Wulfert to narrow the Rams lead to 6-5.
Kelton Mitchell walked, then advanced to second two outs later after a walk was issued to Bejar which loaded the bases.
Savage struck out Dax Vigil looking to end the game and give the Rams the win and a chance to play for the state title.
Rio Rancho, knocked out in the second round of last year’s Class 5A tournament, will be playing for its first state baseball title since 2013 while Centennial will be playing for its first state championship since 2016.
The Panthers season comes to an end with a record of 18-13.
