Albuquerque, N.M. – Unless a major league club offers Jonathan Stroman a deal he can’t refuse following next month’s MLB Draft, La Cueva’s star senior pitcher will pack up his belongings in August and head west on I-40 to Tucson, Ariz., where he will join the University of Arizona baseball team the moment he steps on campus.
Until then, Stroman had one final, legacy-building piece of business to attend to – beating local rival Rio Rancho in the quarterfinals of the Class 6A Baseball Tournament on Thursday night.
Assuring his final appearance in a Bears uniform was one for the ages, Stroman fired a complete game two-hitter and struck out 12 Rio Rancho batters, outdueling Rams starter Bodhi Bolen in La Cueva’s dramatic 1-0 victory at Isotopes Park, securing the top seed’s berth in the Class 6A semifinals on Friday.
La Cueva, which has now won 26 straight games since an opening day defeat to Valley, faces defending 6A state champion Carlsbad Friday at 6 p.m. at Isotopes Park. The winner advances to Saturday night’s 6A state championship game against No. 3 Piedra Vista or No. 2 Cleveland.
Even though Stroman tossed a masterpiece, the outcome of Thursday’s quarterfinal matchup with Rio Rancho was in doubt until the very last pitch.
Trailing by a single run, Rio Rancho’s Ethan Wilcox led off the top of the seventh with a walk. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and to third on a groundout.
With two outs and Wilcox just 90 feet away from scoring the tying run, Stroman won a battle with Rio Rancho junior Ivan Zamora, who fouled off several pitches before swinging and missing at a high fastball for strike three.
Stroman turned, threw his hands into the air and was mobbed by happy teammates near the mound as La Cueva fans roared in the stands.
“I live for those kind of moments,” Stroman said of the tension-filled final inning. “I love that kind of stuff. I love being put in the spotlight. That’s when heroes are made. I couldn’t be any more thankful.”
Earlier, Silcox led off the top of the second with a triple but was stranded as Stroman sandwiched strikeouts around a flyout to short center to keep him at third. After that, Rio Rancho barely touched Stroman until the seventh.
“Towards the middle of the game, I started developing my off-speed pitch a little better,” Stroman said. “But mostly it was command of my fastball. Being able to locate it where I wanted was a big help.”
La Cueva scored the game’s only run in the bottom of the first when leadoff hitter Jack Pineda singled, advanced to second on a groundout (he beat the throw to the bag) and scored on Ryan Phillips’ clutch two-out RBI single on an 0-2 pitch from Bolen, who allowed only five hits in a hard-luck loss.
“Bodhi came out and threw his butt off,” Stroman said. “He threw a great game. I couldn’t be any more proud for him and the Rio Rancho team. They came out here and they gave us their best game. We just a played a little bit better and came out on top.”
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La Cueva could have entered the top of the seventh with a more comfortable lead, but some baserunning misfortune prevented them from building a bigger lead. In the fourth, a La Cueva baserunner fell down between third and home while trying to score on a single and was tagged out in a rundown.
“One of the things we try to preach is aggressiveness on the bases,” La Cueva coach Gerard Pineda said after the victory. “It bit us one time when we got thrown out at second. But it will pay off more in the long run if we stay aggressive on the base paths.”
Later, a potential key insurance run was wiped off the board when La Cueva was called out for runner’s interference at second base. As a result, Rio Rancho was awarded an inning-ending double play, denying the Bears a run.
Still, one run proved enough for Stroman, a two-time All-State selection who signed with Arizona last November.
“It just felt right there,” Stroman said. “(Tucson) is a lot like Albuquerque. I’m excited.”
The Bears caught a break when Carlsbad had potential first-round draft pick Trevor Rogers throw 60 pitchers in the Cavemen’s 9-0 whitewashing of Valley in the game preceding the La Cueva-Rio Rancho showdown, making him ineligible to pitch on Friday. As a result, the Bears will face Carlsbad’s No. 2 pitcher without fear of having to step into the batter’s box against Rogers at any point in the game.
Nonetheless, Stroman is cautious about taking Carlsbad lightly.
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“Carlsbad is tough and they always have good pitchers on the mound,” Stroman said. “It’s going to be a good game. Whoever they have on the mound and whoever we have on the mound, those guys will have a game similar to this one.”
CLASS 6A QUARTERFINAL RESULTS (Thursday):
Carlsbad 9, Valley 0
Cleveland 4, Volcano Vista 3 (8 inn.)
La Cueva 1, Rio Rancho 0
Piedra Vista 4, Centennial 1
CLASS 6A SEMIFINALS SCHEDULE (Friday at Isotopes Park)
Cleveland vs. Piedra Vista, 3 p.m.
La Cueva vs. Carlsbad, 6 p.m.
