T-Bird rally falls short, eliminated from Region 5 Tournament

LUBBOCK — Less than 24 hours before its contest with McLennan on Monday in a matchup that decided who advances to the finals of the Region 5 Tournament, the New Mexico Junior College Baseball team had rallied from a 9-2 deficit after the second inning to defeat Grayson 24-14 Sunday at Rip Griffin Park.

Once again the Thunderbirds dug themselves a massive hole against the Highlanders on Monday as NMJC trailed 10-1 after two.

It appeared the same magic for the T-Birds from the day before was still with them as they cut the lead to 10-9 by the top of the sixth.

But NMJC never found a way to get the tying run across and had its season come to a close with a 10-9 loss.

The T-Birds finish the season 41-20.

NMJC fell behind McLennan 8-0 after the first, and after a Jeff Deimling RBI single made it 8-1 in the top of the second, the T-Birds' deficit grew to nine at 10-1 after two innings.

NMJC started chipping away in the third as a Travon Benton RBI single, a two-run double by Jacy Cave and an RBI single by Angel Vega cut the McLennan lead to 10-5.

A Deimling RBI single and a Zac Sanders RBI ground out sliced the T-Birds' deficit to 10-7 in the fifth inning.

A two-run single by Vega in the sixth got NMJC to within one of the Highlanders as the T-Birds looked prime to again rally to keep its JUCO World Series hopes alive.

However, NMJC was held scoreless over the final three innings and was eliminated. McLennan went on to beat Odessa 10-7 later in the day, and since Odessa hadn't lost in the double-elimination tournament, the teams will play again 1 p.m. (CST) today to determine who will represent Region 5 at the JUCO World Series.

Vega finished 3-for-5 with three RBI for NMJC, Cave went 3-for-4 with two RBI and three runs, Branden Grieger went 2-for-4 and Deimling went 2-for-5 with two RBI.

Ian Doughty got the start and loss, giving up five runs on three hits with two walks while not recording an out. Fernando Fernandez-Beltran kept the T-Birds in it, pitching 5 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, giving up three hits with four strikeouts and three walks.

Brandon Grudzielanek led McLennan, going 4-for-5 with two RBI and two runs and a stolen base.

Chris Glover got the win, going five innings and giving up seven runs on 10 hits with six strikeouts and two walks. Cole Ridgely got the save, giving up just one hit and no runs in the final 3 1/3 innings.

NMJC reached Monday by winning two thrilling games Sunday.

The first game was the rally against Grayson, erasing a 9-2 deficit to win 24-14 as the T-Birds scored 22 runs in the final five innings (including nine in the ninth to blow the game open).

Luis Pintor led the T-Birds at the plate as he hit for the cycle while going 6-for-7 with a home run (which was a grand slam), triple, double, five RBI and four runs.

Jeff Deimling was 5-for-6 with two doubles, a triple, an RBI and four runs, Austin Botello was 4-for-5 with a home run (a grand slam – both grand slams for NMJC came in the ninth inning), triple, five RBI and three runs, Jacy Cave was 3-for-6 with a home run, double, five RBI and four runs and Zac Sanders was 3-for-3 with a home run, double, five RBI and two runs.

Overall the T-Birds hit six home runs against Grayson with Vega and Benton also blasting homers.

Brett Worthen got the win for NMJC, going the final 4 2/3 innings and giving up three runs on three hits with nine strikeouts and one walk.

To advance to today's game, the T-Birds defeated Midland 5-2 in 10 innings Sunday night to eliminate the defending Region 5 champions.

A lead-off walk in the 10th by Pintor ignited the inning, followed by bunt singles from Grieger and Benton.

Cave hit a sacrifice fly to score Pintor to give NMJC a 3-2 advantage.

Botello and Vega added RBI singles in the inning to give the T-Birds insurance.

Trenton Rousseau got the win, pitching the final 3 2/3 innings and giving up no hits or runs with seven strikeouts and three walks. Roberto Delgado got the start for NMJC, going 6 1/3 innings and giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits with nine strikeouts and one walk as the duo combined to strike out 16.

Cave went 3-for-3 for NMJC with a home run and three RBI.