News
Rough Riders rally to first win
Whiteaker home run lifts Luna past El Paso
By Dave Kavanaugh
Luna Community College
Luna Community College baseball earned its first victory of the 2022 season over the weekend, rallying to overcome a 2-0 deficit for a 3-2 win in its series finale at El Paso (Texas) Community College.
The rally, which came in the top of the sixth inning Saturday afternoon, included Luna’s first home run of the spring – a three-run blast to the left-field fence by shortstop Ashton Whiteaker.
El Paso had taken a 2-0 advantage with runs in the third and fifth and appeared headed for a series sweep when Whiteaker came up to bat with teammates Dominic Lucero and M.J. Cepeda on base.
“It was a huge at-bat,” said Luna head coach T.C. Nusser. “It was the first home run we’ve seen through two weekends. I wished that would have ended the game, but we still had to (finish).”
Jacob Limas (six strikeouts, three hits, four walks, two earned runs allowed in five and two-thirds innings) earned the pitching win for the visiting Rough Riders, and Diego Quinonez delivered a save with one and one-third innings of shutout ball.
The weekend in El Paso continued Luna’s recent trend of edge-of-your-seat baseball. Six of the Rough Riders’ eight games have been decided by a single run.
Jesus Campa threw a two-hitter for the host Tejanos in a 4-0 shutout in Friday’s series opener; only Lucero and Tyler Sunstrom managed hits for Luna. Chisum Rush, who limited the Tejanos to one hit in two and two-thirds innings of relief, had a solid pitching effort.
The other games all were one-run affairs. In Friday’s nightcap, Luna led 2-0 after a two-run fifth that included an RBI double by Juan Avila. But the Tejanos answered in their last set of at-bats, driving in three runs in the bottom of the seventh – two off the bat of Ricardo Gutierrez – to steal the win, 3-2. The Riders’ pitching staff combined for 11 strikeouts, and Ryan Clark and Dakota Cummings turned in three shutout innings apiece.
Saturday morning’s game saw El Paso jump out to a 6-0 cushion after one inning, as Gutierrez and Kenneth Dutka (3 for 4, three doubles) drove in two runs each.
But the Rough Riders settled in after the tough start, and neither team scored again until the top of the sixth, when Luna rallied for four runs to make it a game. The Riders resumed their rally in the bottom of the seventh but fell one run shy of tying it, losing 6-5.
Whiteaker went 2 for 4 with a double and one run scored, and Jose Flores tripled in going 1 of 2 with two RBI. Avila and Cepeda also plated runs for Luna.
Nusser said the number of close-game situations early in the season figure to be beneficial down the line for his Rough Riders.
“We have a lot of freshmen this year, seeing their first college at-bats,” he noted. “But they’re coming around … I’m hoping all these close games will pay dividends when we get to conference. It’s very valuable. You can’t replicate it in practice.”
One thing practice has developed is steadier pitching, which has been a strength early on.
“Our pitching has been pretty good,” Nusser said. “We knew it would be.”
The Rough Riders (1-7) will host Community Christian College (0-4) for a home doubleheader starting at noon on Wednesday. (The games may be moved out of town due to field conditions.) CCC dropped four in a series against Southern Idaho Feb. 1-2 in Henderson, Nev.
Luna softball is scheduled to play six games in three days as part of the Permian Basin Invitational at Odessa, Texas. The first game will pit Luna against Cisco at noon Thursday. The Rough Riders are also scheduled to play Odessa (twice), Hesston and Tyler.
It will be the head coaching debut for Randall Krutsch.