Yuma High School’s baseball team will try to get on a winning track after a difficult start to the 2023 season.
The former Indians are 1-5 heading after losing 13-1 at Limon on Thursday. Their long-awaited home opener is Friday against Sedgwick County, which will feature two games with the opener at 2 p.m.
Yuma has run into the top two teams in Class 1A early in the season, dropping a double dip early last week at No. 1 Merino, then getting swept at No. 2 Haxtun this past Saturday. Both those teams were undefeated entering this week. It does not get much easier today as Limon is 8-3 and ranked No. 3 in 2A. The schedule has helped Yuma in the Rating Percentage Index as the team was No. 10 as of this past Tuesday, despite its 1-4 record.
Yuma has had trouble stringing together hits over the past four games, eventually leading to the opponent pulling away.
The local boys pushed two across two runs in the top of the fourth in the opener to pull within 3-2.
It appeared the game would get away from them in the bottom half as Haxtun scored two, and had the bases loaded with no outs. However, a force-out at home on a grounder to third, and a strike out then another out got the former Indians out of jam and kept them within striking distance, 5-2.
Yuma got another run across in the top of the fifth to make it 5-3, but again could not generate more offense.
It remained 5-3 when Haxtun finally broke it open in the bottom of the sixth with five runs. Yuma was able to plate two runs in the top of the seventh, including a home run by Silas Baucke, but it was not nearly enough in the 10-5 loss.
Haxtun had just two more hits than Yuma, 10 to eight, and committed five errors while Yuma had four. Haxtun struck out 13 times compared to 11 for Yuma, and the walks were four to three, but Haxtun was able to generate timely offense with runners on base.
Baucke had two hits, including the homer, and scored two runs. Reyli Trejo had three hits, Victor Perez one hit, Adrian Carranza two runs as a courtesy runner, Ethan Gonzales one hit and three RBI, Jonathan Thomson one run, Brody Sheffield one run, and Angel Escobar one hit. Baucke took the pitching loss, striking out 12 and walking three while allowing eight earned runs on nine hits over 5-1/3 innings. Escobar went the final two-thirds, allowing one run on one hit and walks, striking out one.
Yuma dropped the nightcap 13-3 in five innings.
It started out promising enough as Yuma scored three runs in the top of the first. Yuma then got the first out in the bottom of the first, but Haxtun eventually scored three runs. The Fightin’ Bulldogs then pushed across seven in the bottom of the second for a 10-3 lead.
Yuma could not generate any more offense after the first, eventually losing by 10 runs.
The former Tribe committed five errors, and had just four hits, all singles.
Trejo had two of those hits and had one RBI, Sheffield one hit and one run, and Carson Lynch one hit. Carranza and Escobar each scored a run. Perez had one RBI. Hugo Montes took the pitching loss, yielding five earned runs on five hits and five walks, while striking out two, in 1-2/3 innings. Trejo went 2-1/3 on the hill, allow two earned runs on five hits. He struck out two and walked one. Six of Haxtun’s runs were unearned.
