Cats cruise to win over Texico

Apr. 13—Clovis High's baseball team has had a pretty solid pre-District 4-5A slate, and the Wildcats are hopeful it carries over.

CHS wrapped up the pre-district portion of its schedule with a 17-2 victory over Class 2A Texico on Thursday night at Bell Park. The Cats now have a trio of three-game district series remaining on the schedule, beginning this week against Carlsbad.

Clovis (10-6) managed just seven hits against the Wolverines, but took advantage of numerous walks and errors to quickly put the contest out of reach. Seniors Jasiah Mendoza, Zane Urioste and Jayden Jameson combined to limit the Wolverines (3-6) to just three hits.

"I like where we're at," CHS coach Richard Cruse said in looking ahead a challenging district slate. "We've still got to clean up some things, but if you'd told me at the beginning of the year, with the schedule we've played, that we'd be 10-6, I would've taken that."

Only senior Gabe Tapia, who went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles, had more than one hit for the Cats. Tapia drove in a pair of runs and scored four times.

Seniors Jarome Williams and Koby Rivera both went 0-for-1, but each walked three times and scored three runs. Freshman Javi Jimenez added a two-run single in the Cats' four-run second, while Mendoza chipped in a two-run single during Clovis' nine-run fourth.

The game ended in 4 1/2 innings on the 10-run rule.

"If we want to make the (Class 5A) playoffs, it's all in front of us," Cruse said. "I think the district stacks up pretty comparable, if you look at all the records. It's going to be a matter of who plays better on that given day."

Seniors Daltyn Cain and Easton Cooper and sophomore Jesus Chavez each had a single for Texico, and Cain and Chavez scored the Wolverines' runs.

The Cats travel to Carlsbad (10-6) for a 5 p.m. single game on Thursday, then host the Cavemen in a 4:30 p.m. doubleheader on Friday.

Texico, which opened District 6-2A play at Clayton on Friday, returns to action with a 4 p.m. district tilt at Santa Rosa on Thursday.