Dragons, Rams split doubleheader

“Merino’s a very good team, and we really proved that when we’re playing our best, we can beat just about anybody,” Holyoke High School Baseball Coach Jimmy French said of the Saturday, April 22, home doubleheader with the Rams.

Both games were incredibly close. Merino ended up winning the first game 16-9 in an extra inning, and Holyoke won the second game 11-10.

“We definitely had a couple of bad innings take that first game away from us, so we still have to work on being more consistent,” French said. “But I was really happy with the way we bounced back every time things didn’t go our way and kept competing.”

The Dragons have a long stretch to prepare for their next game, which isn’t until Saturday, May 6, in Yuma. The doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.

Holyoke 9, Merino 16

In Saturday’s first game, Merino got on the board early with one run. They maintained a 1-0 lead through the third inning, then the Rams had a big fourth inning, extending the lead to 6-0. Holyoke still couldn’t post a run in the bottom of the inning.

In the fifth, Merino added two more runs and the Dragons got on the board with two of their own.

Going into the sixth inning down 8-2, things weren’t looking too good for the home team. The Dragons stuck with it, though, and kept the Rams from scoring. At bat, Holyoke racked up five runs and suddenly were back in the game.

The Dragons held the Rams to their 8-7 lead in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the inning, Holyoke scored the game-tying run and were in position to win the game if things went their way. Merino wasn’t finished, though, and got the out that sent the game into an extra inning.

A couple of miscues on the Dragons’ part led to the Rams pulling ahead 16-8. Back at bat, Holyoke managed one more run, but ended up losing the game 16-9.

Tyson Mosenteen started out the game on the mound and faced 20 batters in four innings. He struck out seven, walked five, and gave up eight hits and eight earned runs. Ty Dirks pitched the last four innings and faced 19 batters. He struck out one, walked seven, and gave up 12 hits and eight earned runs.

At bat, Wyatt Sprague hit a triple and two singles, Colby Weber hit a double and two singles, Reid Sprague and Dirks each hit two singles, and Angel Carrasco and Irving Dominguez hit one single apiece. Reid also stole one base.