Day 2 of the 18th annual Artie Escobado Memorial Baseball tournament continued Saturday, June 28, with a quadruple header on both Hobbs Field and Andenucio Field at Runyon Sports Complex.
The host team, Azteca 17’s, had an early matchup against the Pueblocos on Hobbs field, and on the mound was John Hernandez. Hernandez was in control early in this game, shutting down the Pueblocos in the first two innings.
His teammates picked him up and dropped three runs in the first inning and three runs in the second inning to give him a comfortable 6-0 lead. They would add one run in the third and four more in the fourth to make it an 11-0 lead.
Hernandez continued to cruise in the game and would no-hit the Pueblocos, striking out seven and earning the win in five innings.
In their second game of the day, Pueblocos faced off against BDA, and the team from Colorado Springs, BDA, came away with the victory, 9-3. After that, Azteca 17’s would host Ft. Fort-Carson.
The Azteca 17’s would make quick work of the Trojans, getting out to a huge lead and maintaining that lead throughout the game, winning 12-4.
The final game on Hobbs field was between BDA and Ft. Fort-Carson. This game was big in the seedings, as BDA needed a win or a close loss to secure second place in the division and advance to the semifinals.
BDA walked away victorious over Ft. Fort-Carson 8-1. They will play on Sunday against Wow Factor in the semifinals.
The Azteca 17’s clinched the number one seed in their division and will host a semifinal matchup on Sunday against the Azteca 15’s squad, who finished in second place in their group.
“It starts on the mound, all our pitchers were chucking strikes and throwing good,” Azteca 17’s coach Dallas Davis said. “A no-hitter in the first game, can’t really cry about that. We were behind our pitcher and playing really well, hitting the sticks well.”
When asked about the potential matchup against Azteca 15’s in the semifinals, Davis responded with, “It doesn’t matter who’s across from us on the diamond, we are going to go out there and we are going to try our best.”
Over on the Andenucio Field, Azteca 15’s took care of Ark Valley Stars 14-6. Ark Valley then defeated Outlaws 8-5. Shortly after, the Wow Factor took care of Azteca 15’s by the score of 8-0. Finally, in the last game of the day, Wow Factor earned a victory over the Outlaws 9-1.
The Wow Factor won their division with a 3-0 record, with Azteca 15’s coming in second place with a 2-1 record.
Here are the final group standings:
Clementi Division
Azteca 17’s 3-0BDA 2-1Pueblocos 1-2Ft. Fort Carson 0-3
Williams Division
Wow Factor 3-0Azteca 15’s 2-1Ark Valley 1-2Outlaws 0-3
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: 18th Annual Artie Escobado Memorial Baseball tournament day two action
