PREP BASEBALL
Rio Rancho, Cleveland, Carlsbad, Piedra Vista advance to 5A baseball semis
No. 1 Rio Rancho survived a late scare while No. 6 Carlsbad pulled off a major upset over La Cueva
No. 1 Rio Rancho survived a major scare, and the Rams joined No. 2 Cleveland, No. 4 Piedra Vista and No. 6 Carlsbad in the semifinals of the Class 5A state baseball tournament.
The Rams came from behind to oust Mayfield, the Storm blanked Eldorado, the Panthers scored late to eliminate upstart Las Cruces, and the Cavemen pulled away for a huge, and convincing, upset win over La Cueva in Thursday鈥檚 quarterfinals.
District 1-5A has three of the final four teams. Rio Rancho faces Piedra Vista at 4:15 p.m. Friday in the first semifinal. Cleveland and Carlsbad will meet at 7 p.m. Friday in the late semifinal at Lobo Baseball Field.
No. 6 CARLSBAD 10, No. 3 LA CUEVA 2: At the Riordan Complex, before the Cavemen removed all drama from the proceedings with a seven-run seventh, the story of this game was Carlsbad鈥檚 Wade Cozart.
The sophomore hurler outdueled Bears ace Dylan Blomker, pitching 6 2/3 innings while allowing two runs and striking out 10. Meanwhile, the LSU-bound Blomker was pulled in the fifth inning after allowing back-to-back doubles. The La Cueva senior gave up six hits and three runs through four innings while striking out nine.
鈥淭hat guy is freaking the real deal,鈥� Carlsbad coach Mike McGaha said of Cozart. 鈥淗e鈥檚 going to be special.鈥�
The Cavemen (19-10) struck first with an RBI single by Eloy Lopez in the second inning. The fifth inning, which was Blomker鈥檚 last, included RBIs from Cozart and Brock Wright as Carlsbad took a 3-0 lead.
Carlsbad beat La Cueva 10-2 on Thursday in the Class 5A Quarterfinals of the 2026 Nusenda Credit Union State Baseball Championships. Here are some of the highlights.
鈥� NMAA (@_NMAA)
La Cueva (25-4) stranded runners in four of the first five innings, but Cozart was able to work around the trouble, including an escape with runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the fifth.
鈥淚 was feeling great,鈥� Cozart said. 鈥淚 was just trying to help my team out the best way I can, and I was just trying to get that W.鈥�
Any hopes of a Bears rally unraveled in the top of the seventh, when the Cavemen jumped on Luke Feist and Marcelo Gabaldon for seven runs to put the game on ice. The two La Cueva pitchers combined to walk six batters during the disastrous frame. Getting Blomker out of the game certainly helped Carlsbad鈥檚 cause.
鈥淲e made (Blomker) throw pitches and get behind in counts, and he had to throw some pitches that we could hit,鈥� McGaha said. 鈥淎nd we had a couple two-out RBIs and it separated us in the game and then we chased him. And at that point, I was really confident in my guy.鈥�
鈥� Tristen Critchfield
No. 1 RIO RANCHO 6, No. 8 MAYFIELD 5: At Lobo Baseball Field, the Rams (24-5) were down three runs in the sixth, tied the game, then were down a run in the bottom of the seventh before they scored twice to walk off the Trojans (20-8-1).
鈥淛ust because you have a high seed, doesn鈥檛 mean anything,鈥� a relieved Rio Rancho coach David Gomez said. 鈥淚f they鈥檙e here, they鈥檙e here for a reason. It took us a while to wake up to that reality.鈥�
With the bases loaded, Chase Rivera of Rio Rancho was hit by a pitch in the lower leg, scoring Matt Cook with the winning run. Cook moments earlier had blooped an RBI single to right to tie the game 5-all.
鈥淚 really didn鈥檛 have the greatest game, but that single to tie the game felt amazing,鈥� said Cook, who was the Rams鈥� starting pitcher but struggled in a short outing.
鈥淗e came through in a big moment,鈥� Gomez said of Cook.
Anthony Knoll led off the seventh for Rio Rancho with a single. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on a sacrifice bunt.
No. 9 hitter Brayden Bustillos later hit a ground-rule double to put runners at second and third, and Mayfield intentionally walked Wyatt Tinker to load the bases. Rivera was up next and delivered an unusual game-winning RBI.
鈥淢ayfield played a great game,鈥� Cook said, 鈥渂ut things happen.鈥�
The Trojans鈥� shaky pitching and defense allowed Rio Rancho to get back into the game There was an error and two hit batsmen in the bottom of the sixth as the Rams erased a 4-1 deficit and tied the game with just a single hit, an infield single at that. A throwing error (with two outs) scored a run, a wild pitch scored a run, and Dean Ellison鈥檚 grounder to short scored a run.
The Trojans, who led 4-1 based on the earlier sketchy pitching and defense of the Rams 鈥� Mayfield scored three in the top of the fourth without the benefit of a hit to lead 4-1 鈥� retook the lead in the top half of the seventh on Brad Springer鈥檚 RBI single to right on an 0-2 pitch.
鈥淲e obviously didn鈥檛 have our best stuff,鈥� Gomez said, 鈥渂ut credit to Mayfield, they pushed us. That鈥檚 what put us off our game, they played very well. Obviously we had some balls go our way at the end.鈥�
鈥� James Yodice
No. 2 CLEVELAND 6, No. 7 ELDORADO 0: Storm senior left-hander Xavier Vasquez was utterly brilliant, tossing a complete-game four-hitter as Cleveland (26-3) advanced.
Vasquez struck out 15 Eagles, including the last five, in his masterful performance. Eldorado only got one runner as far as second base, and that was in the first inning. Vasquez didn鈥檛 walk anyone.
Cleveland got all the offense it needed against Eldorado (24-5) with three runs in the bottom of the third, which occurred on three straight pitches. Francisco Hernandez鈥檚 sacrifice fly with the bases loaded scored the first run of the game.
On the next pitch, Noah Segura singled home a run. And on the very next pitch after that, Caleb Sandoval singled to left to plate a third run.
Caleb Budagher doubled home a run in the fourth for Cleveland, and Segura scored two additional insurance runs in the sixth with another single.
鈥� James Yodice
