Rehoboth Christian closes out regular season 2-1: Lynx earn No. 6 seed in 2A playoffs

By Truman Begaye
Special to the Times

GALLUP

The Rehoboth Christian Lynx baseball team wrapped up its regular season facing two teams that couldn’t have been more different.

On Thursday, May 1, the Lynx (11-11) faced a tough Sandia Prep squad and fell 11-2. Two days later, they responded with a resounding 21-1 mercy-rule victory over Navajo Pine before adding another win in the second game of the doubleheader, 18-8.

“In the first game, Sandia was dealing,” Rehoboth coach Zen Zylstra said as the Lynx had no answers for the Sundevils’ pitching in Thursday’s matchup. “We had too many walks early if you check the stats. You give them the base for free and a good team will always make you pay. But we schedule those kinds of games – Sandia Prep, West Las Vegas and Santa Fe Indian because we want to play good teams and be competitive when it comes to state playoffs, It doesn’t do any good to be beating teams by 15.”

Sandia jumped out early in the first inning when junior Landon Hardcastle scored on a ground ball by sophomore Logan Lemons. Junior Jonas Mahboub followed with a two-RBI double, scoring Ethan Dudley and Lucas Ruelas to make it 3-0. Rehoboth answered with a run from junior Jonathan Zylstra, who came home on a fly ball from Jude Christensen.

But Sandia kept pouring it on. They added two runs in the second and continued to build the lead inning by inning. Lemons and Mahboub each collected multiple RBIs, while Matteo Herrera scored twice and walked in another run. The Lynx added just one more run—Josiah Becksvoort scoring on a Zach VanDrunen grounder—but otherwise struggled at the plate and went three-and-out in four innings.

By the seventh, Sandia had pushed the score to 11-2, and the Lynx were unable to mount a response.

Two days later, Rehoboth unleashed its offense in dominant fashion.

In the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, Navajo Pine scored its lone run in the top of the first, but the Lynx responded with a four-run bottom half. Zylstra, Chapman, Christensen, and West all crossed home in the opening inning, setting the tone for the rest of the game.

Rehoboth added two runs in the second, six in the third, and seven in the fourth. Highlights included an inside-the-park home run from Becksvoort that brought in three runs, and a string of RBI hits from Chapman, Christensen, Yazzie, and freshman Brighton Thompson.

With the score 21-1, the game was called in the middle of the fifth innings due to a mercy rule after the Warriors couldn’t score to close the scoring gap.

The second game was more of the same. Rehoboth exploded for 11 runs in the bottom of the first and led 11-0 before Navajo Pine could settle in.

The Warriors mounted a brief rally in the third inning, scoring five runs, but the Lynx kept their foot on the gas. Rehoboth added five more in the fourth and sealed the win with one final run in the sixth after holding the Warriors scoreless in the top half, ending the game via the mercy rule once again at 18-8.

With the split results to close out the regular season—one humbling loss and two commanding victories—the Rehoboth Christian Lynx now move on to host the 11th seeded Tucumcari (8-10) on Wednesday evening at 5 p.m. in the first round of the New Mexico Class 2A state baseball playoffs.

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