Yuma High School’s baseball team will be hitting the road for regional later this week.
Exactly when and where was not going to be determined until Wednesday morning, as some teams still had games on Tuesday.
That includes the Outlaws, who wrapped up the regular season with a doubleheader at Byers. They dropped both ends to conclude the regular season on an eight-game losing streak, sitting at 8-13 entering the postseason.
They had dropped to No. 20 in the Class 2A CHSAA Selection & Seeding Index as of Wednesday morning.
Yuma ended up going to Peyton, where the Outlaws’ season ended in a wild 12-11 walkoff loss to Swink in the regional semifinals. (Look for more next week.)
Yuma dropped a pair of painful walk-off losses last Saturday at Burlington by the identical score of 4-3. Burlington, 14-7, is No. 6 in the Index.
The losing streak also included a doubleheader sweep at the hands of Holyoke, 14-7 and No. 5 in the Index, and dropping the nightcap of a twin bill at Wiggins.
That stretch pushed the Outlaws out of any chance of finishing in the top eight and hosting a regional (they had been as high as No. 2 after a 5-1 start), and now it is just a matter of where they will go on Friday or Saturday.
Yuma lost both games Saturday in the bottom of the seventh.
Burlington posted one run in the first inning and one in the third for a 2-0 lead.
The Outlaws broke out with a three-run rally in the fourth that featured a RBI hit by Alex Pensado, and runs scored by Cristian Thompson, Hugo Montes and Pensado.
The 3-2 lead held up until the bottom of the fifth, when the Cougars scored the tying run.
Yuma went scoreless in its last three at-bats, and the Cougars finally made the Outlaws pay by scoring the winning run in its last at-bat.
Reyli Trejo went six innings on the hill, striking out six but walking five. However, he allowed only three hits. Only one of the three runs scored on him was earned. Silas Baucke came on in the seventh and got one strike out, but ended up yielding the winning run.
The Outlaws had a total of five hits, two by Montes, and one each by Pensado, Thomson, and Angel Escobar. Yuma batters struck out just four times, but drew just one walk.
It was Yuma who took a 2-0 lead in the nightcap, scoring one run in the top of the first and another in the third. Burlington finally got on the board in bottom of the fourth with two runs.
The Outlaws retook the lead with one run in the top of the sixth.
However, Burlington came through again in the bottom of the seventh with two runs for its second walkoff win of the day, scoring the winning run with two outs.
Yuma again outhit Burlington, 7-6, and the Cougars committed four errors to two for Yuma. There were only five walks combined, and Burlington struck out 14 times to nine for the Outlaws. Yet somehow the Cougars pulled out another win.
Baucke had a strong outing in 6-1/3 innings, scattering five hits while striking out 14 and walking one. However, he reached his pitch limit, and Marvin Duarte had to come in with one out in the seventh.
Trejo hit two doubles and scored a run, Carson Lynch two hits and two RBI, Thomson one hit and onen run, Montes one hit, and Escobar one hit and one run.
The Outlaws closed out the regular season Tuesday at Byers, running their losing streak to eight with 6-3 and 14-1 losses to the Bulldogs.
Byers jumped on top 3-0 in the opener. The Outlaws got one in the third, but Byers answered with two in the home half, then added one more in the fourth. Yuma got one run in each the sixth and seventh, but that was it.
The Outlaws got seven hits to four for Byers, and the strike outs and walks were fairly even, and the fielding was clean, but the Outlaws just could not generate runs.
Pensado had two hits and one run, Huwa hit a double, Trejo one hit, one RBI and one run, Thomson one hit and one RBI, Montes one hit, and Baucke one hit. Thomson, a freshman, and Duarte, a sophomore each pitched three innings, combining for seven strikeouts and six walks, and six earned runs on just those four hits.
Game Two turned ugly quickly as Byers scored four runs in each the first and second innings. The Bulldogs led 14-0 when Yuma got its lone run in the top of the fifth. The Bulldogs had just three hits, but drew 14 walks and were hit by a pitch four times.
Yuma was no-hit, but Montes did score the run in the fifth.