Wildcats fall to Snowflake in 6-2 decision

CHINLE

In its toughest game yet, the Chinle baseball team dropped a 6-2 decision to 3A East powerhouse Snowflake on Saturday afternoon.

The visiting Lobos outhit the Wildcats 10 to 5 as Snowflake cashed in on a couple of two-out, at-bats for the freedom game win.

“They’re a really good team, and we are too,” longtime Chinle coach Charles Kimbrough said. “We’re at least equal with them. Hitting-wise, we were right there with these guys.”

In their last at-bats, the Wildcats put two runners on with one out, but Snowflake ended that threat with back-to-back flyouts. The first flyout appeared to have some promise as Chinle senior Hage Tsosie connected on his first offering with a long drive, but Snowflake left outfielder Kasen Rogers recorded the out.

“We were counting on that, but the wind caught that,” Kimbrough said. “We were really counting on that, but that’s baseball.”

Tsosie, who went 2-for-4 at the plate, believes his attempt would have put some pressure on Snowflake had the ball hit the baseball turf.

“You can’t really do much about that,” Tsosie said. “He was at the right spot at the right time, and he made a play.”

Snowflake coach Abram Bawden praised his team for staying discipline despite facing some adversity, especially when Chinle was one out away of ending a handful of frames.

“I felt like Chinle did a really good job of getting us with the first two outs,” Bawden said. “But our guys sort of locked in and they strung together a couple of hits with two outs. We were able to scratch one or two runs in a few of those innings.”

The Lobos scored first with leadoff hitter Kyler Matthews working a 3-2 pitch count for a single. After a passed ball, he advanced home on a pair of Chinle outs, which included an RBI groundout by junior catcher Graham Bawden.

To complete the frame, Chinle answered and tied the game at 1-all with senior shortstop Mackaden Arthur nailing a grounder in right field for a triple. He then scored on a sac grounder by Tsosie.

In the top of the third, Snowflake added two more runs on three base hits. Senior right outfielder Jaxon Merrill got the rally going with a single, which was followed by a run-scoring double from Matthews. Two batters later, Matthews reached home thanks to an RBI single from junior catcher Graham Bawden.

The Wildcats got one of those runs back when Arthur, who reached base with a fielder’s choice, scored on a run-scoring double from Tsosie as Chinle trailed 3-2.

In the fourth, the Wildcats put Snowflake on its heels with a pair of routine outs. But the Lobos managed to string together back-to-back hits from third baseman Julian Barrera and left outfielder Kasen Rogers. Barrera nailed a dinger in the left field for a single and Rogers added an RBI double in the other direction for a 4-2 Snowflake cushion.

The Lobos added a pair of runs in the fifth, which included a solo home run from first baseman Tate Matthews, who led Snowflake with a pair of hits.

“Tate Matthews’ home run was huge for us, and that sort of gave us that insurance run,” the Snowflake coach said. “I think that one was with two outs, too. Again, those are the type of things that we talk to our guys, you know, game-winning plays.”

In addition to Tate Matthews, Snowflake also received two hits from Kyler Matthews also while Graham Bawden went 1-for-4 at the plate for three RBIs.

Snowflake ace Curtis Hollom went the distance and gave up two earned runs on five hits. He also struck out seven Chinle batters.

“Curtis Hollom was just lights out on the mound today,” Abram Bawden said. “He did a wonderful job. We had all the pitches working with him and defensively we made the plays behind when we needed to make them.”

For Chinle, Tsosie was tagged for the loss as he also went the distance, giving up six earned runs on 10 hits with four strikeouts.

“Hage Tsosie is a great pitcher and I told him in the handshake line,” Bawden said. “He’s a kid that we watched the last couple of years, and we knew coming up here that we were probably going to face him. He’s a great pitcher and he kept us off balance.

“We tried to be really disciplined, not chase stuff out of the zone, make sure that we were swinging at strikes and luckily when we did swing at strikes, we put the ball in play and had some big hits.”

Earlier this week, both teams resumed action with Snowflake (6-3-1) falling to 3A East rival Show Low (13-3) by an 11-5 count on Tuesday afternoon.

Chinle, meanwhile, posted an 8-3 win over Tuba City as the Wildcats improved to 5-2 overall.

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