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RIO RANCHO 鈥� No. 1 Cleveland beat No. 2 Piedra Vista 9-7 in a District 1-5A prep baseball showdown on Tuesday, and yet that simple declaration barely does justice to how this final score came to be.

The short version:

The undefeated Storm, who recently have shown up at the bottom end of two national top-25 polls, did what they do best for two hours and six innings Tuesday. Left-hander Jacob Vasquez gave Cleveland (19-0, 3-0 in 1-5A) a solid starting pitching performance and the versatile lineup supplied him with an abundance of run support, including four in the bottom half of the first.

This is more or less the same formula the Storm has used to carve out all those wins.

For those first two hours, it was serene, methodical, very business-like baseball from Cleveland; like a Disney movie.

The longer version:

It was more like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Out of the blue, for 25 extremely bizarre minutes in the top of the seventh, it became a horror show for the Storm, full of carnage and suspense and wounds, self-inflicted and otherwise.

鈥淥h man, it was very nerve-wracking,鈥� said Caleb Sandoval, who ended up getting the save for Cleveland in a game that until the end did not need saving at all.

The Panthers (17-2, 2-1) scored five runs and had the bases loaded with two outs in the seventh when second reliever Sandoval induced a fly ball to end the threat, and the game.

鈥淏ig relief,鈥� Cleveland third baseman Francisco Hernandez said. 鈥淭hat was maybe the most stressful game I鈥檝e had in high school.鈥�

Cleveland touched up Piedra Vista starter Alexis Hernandez for four in the first. Francisco Hernandez scored a run on a ground ball. Designated hitter Treven Polanco, the next batter, singled home two runs. Two batters later, Sandoval doubled off the wall in right-center to plate a fourth run.

Given that the Storm, coming into Tuesday, hadn鈥檛 given up more than three runs in a game but twice in 18 outings, they were operating in a position of strength from the start.

Cleveland added three runs in the third, with Sandoval, Noah Segura and Peyton Noel each driving in runs in the bottom part of the order, and it was 7-1 at this point.

The lead swelled to 9-1 in the fourth, with Hernandez driving in his second run of the afternoon, and Marcus Abeyta scoring a run on a sacrifice fly.

Everything was humming along. Until 鈥� 

The top of the seventh began with a Cleveland outfielder attempting to dive for a ball instead of playing it on a hop for a single. It went past him and turned into a triple. There were three physical errors in this inning, to boot. The first Storm reliever, even with a giant lead, attempted to pick off a runner at second, except there was no Cleveland teammate there to catch his throw. That is one example.

鈥淲e just battled through adversity, that鈥檚 what we do,鈥� Sandoval said. Sigh of relief, Sandoval was asked?

鈥淥h, 100%,鈥� he said with a big smile.

Even Cleveland鈥檚 best player, senior shortstop Anthony Del Angel, got caught up in all of this. On a ground ball, and the Storm still leading big, he attempted to throw out a runner at the plate with a certain out waiting at second base on a force play.

The throw forced the runner to stop and retreat to third. Except, Storm catcher Ben Herman launched a throw in the rundown over the third baseman鈥檚 head and it rolled all the way to the left-field wall. Three runs scored on a routine grounder to short for a 9-6 game.

The Panthers added another run on Mason Courtney鈥檚 RBI double, and two walks loaded the bases. Shockingly, the go-ahead run was now standing at first base. The fly ball 鈥� with impending rain moving in quickly 鈥� finally sent everyone home.

Cleveland, in its previous game, struggled a bit to get past Farmington 4-3. Leading Francisco Hernandez to say this:

鈥淲e鈥檙e playing pretty bad baseball right now,鈥� he said.

As if all that weren鈥檛 enough, Storm coach Shane Shallenberger was ejected in the top of the seventh and he wasn鈥檛 around to witness the crazy finish. It was the first time since Cleveland鈥檚 first year of baseball (2010) that he had been tossed, he said.

鈥淚 thought we played really good baseball for the first six innings,鈥� he said. 鈥淭op of the seventh, we made a few errors that we haven鈥檛 been making. We gotta clean that up a little bit. 鈥� I think we鈥檙e not playing all three facets of the game up to our standards.鈥�

Shallenberger said he wasn鈥檛 sure if he would appeal his ejection. If he does, the clock already is ticking, because the Storm鈥檚 next game is Thursday at Volcano Vista.

James Yodice covers prep sports for the Journal. You can reach him at jyodice@abqjournal.com or via X at .