Grants captures first state baseball crown

ALBUQUERQUE – For the past few seasons, the Grants baseball team had the means to win a state title.

But the Pirates were sent home early the last two years, which included a quarterfinal loss last season as the tournament’s top seed in Class 4A.

This year the Pirates (25-6) earned the No. 2 seed, and they needed a little “luck” to earn the school’s first state crown as Grants topped Artesia, 5-3, Saturday afternoon at Santa Ana Star Field on the UNM campus in Albuquerque.

“We faced a lot of tough team and they’re all tough no matter who they have on the mound,” Grants coach Mike Furbee said. “You know, luck plays a big part in this. I mean, it’s just not the skills set. Things have to fall your way and I think it did this year.”

Centerfielder Boudy Melonas recorded the final out for the Pirates as Artesia (17-14) was threatening to score. With two outs, Melonas made a spectacular catch to end the game.

“This is just so special,” Grants shortstop Estevan Berala said. “Last year we didn’t get the results we wanted and this year we came in wanting to make further than what we did last year.”

Last season, the Pirates came up short to Albuquerque Academy, 7-5, in the state quarterfinals. The two teams faced each other in Friday’s semifinal with Grants stealing a 6-5 win in a classic barnburner that went nine innings.

The Pirates got the game-winning run when Niko Young hit an RBI double in the bottom of the ninth that drove in Dominick Gonzales, who used his speed to clear second, third and home base as Academy was looking to gun him down.

But Gonzales managed to beat the throw that put the Pirates in championship game.

“We lost to them last year, so we were looking to get back at them,” Berala said. “We had to put our foot on the gas pedal, and we ended up winning that game.”

The Grants infielder said they used that epic win as motivation to get by Artesia. The Pirates led 2-1 after the completion of the first inning as Grants scored two unearned runs thanks to an error by Academy left fielder Jett Whitmire.

The fifth-seeded Bulldogs regained the lead by putting across two runs in the next frame, taking advantage of two Grants errors.

The Furbee-coached team responded with a pair of singles from Boudy Melonas and Diego Lopez in the bottom of the second.

But the Chargers turned a double play with Daniel Garcia grounding out while Melonas was caught stealing for home.

Nonetheless, Berala ripped a hard ground ball to left field for an RBI double that scored courtesy runner Coudy Melonas.

With two outs, Berala made it home on thanks to an RBI single from Izeyah Manzanares for a 4-3 lead.

Grants added an insurance run with Noah Lundstrom leading the third with a triple and he scored on a sacrifice fly from Boudy Melonas.

The Pirates finished with 10 hits – two each from Berala, Lundstrom and Gonzales – on Artesia’s Diego Morales. The sophomore ace gave up five runs (four earned) on 10 hits while fanning two batters.

“We came out hot today,” Berala said of the team’s hitting. “Sometimes we come out flat, but in this game, we were raking it.”

Manzanares, who came close to his pitch count, went the distance as he surrendered three runs on six hits. The Grants senior relied on his defense as he finished the contest with two strikeouts and no walks.

“He did great, and he closed for us last night,” Furbee said of Manzanares. “He went a little longer than what we wanted last night, so we were hoping that he could get us through five, six innings with the count he had available.

“Fortunately he was able to finish it out,” the Grants coach added.

With some important pieces coming back, the Pirates could make another deep run next season.

“We have only two seniors, and we have kids that are young in the dugout, so we expect to be right back here again,” Furbee said.

“We have another season to look forward to with the players we have coming back,” Berala added. “I think we have a chance to win back-to-back (state) titles.”

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