Rehoboth pitcher throws no-hitter, Lynx advance at state

GALLUP

Behind a no-hit game from sophomore Jacob Zylstra, the Rehoboth Lynx advanced into the second round of the New Mexico Class 2A state baseball tournament.

With Zylstra’s superb command and the Lynx finding their offensive rhythm in the bottom of the third, Rehoboth took down No. 13 seed Santa Fe Desert Academy by a 10-0 count last Thursday morning in a game that was rescheduled due to inclement weather.

“This is our first time we’re advancing into the next round in Albuquerque, so this is exciting,” said Rehoboth coach Anthony Sanchez, whose team will play No. 5 seed Mora at 3 p.m. today at Eldorado High School.

The fourth-seeded Lynx were supposed to have played Desert Academy the day before but the base paths at Ford Canyon Park were saturated from the recent rain so last week’s first-round game was played at Miyamura High, which has an all-turf field.

Sanchez appreciated the outpouring of support from the Miyamura baseball team as well as the Gallup-McKinley County School District.

“We did contact head coach Dustin Vidal and he was helpful,” Sanchez said of the Miyamura skipper. “He actually worked on the mound for us and he said, ‘Hey, I’ll take care of things for you’ so it was nice for him to open up his field up to us.”

Sanchez said Zylstra was pretty solid on the mound and his performance was a continuation of what he produced two weeks ago when they shut out Native American Community Academy, 12-0.

“He actually pitched in the district championship game and held them to a one-hitter so he’s in a zone a lot,” the Rehoboth coach said of Zylstra. “Not very many walks but he did get that one walk to end this game but, yeah, he’s in a zone. He does very well and we have a lot of confidence in him.”

Zylstra pitched five innings to the tune of 12 strikeouts and gave up one walk.

“Jake is the guy we go to in these situations,” Sanchez said. “He’s obviously big and he throws hard and he does have a good curveball to go with that.”

Zylstra said he was a little miffed that he gave up that walk as he faced 16 batters, one over the minimum.

“I’ve been throwing OK lately with not very many walks,” Zylstra said.

Offensively, the Lynx scattered 10 hits with three batters – freshman Talon West and seniors Kevin Johnny and Allen West – going 2-for-3. Of the three batters, Allen West had a remarkable outing as he drove in five runs, which included a three-run homer in the bottom of the third that fell inside the warning track in right field for a 4-0 cushion.

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