Cats cruise to sweep of Palo Duro

Clovis High’s baseball team is off to a 6-1 start. Now the Wildcats get a chance to test themselves on the road.

CHS rode solid pitching and defense to an 8-1, 11-1 sweep of Amarillo Palo Duro Tuesday at Bell Park. The Cats hit the road for the first time on Saturday for a doubleheader against a quality Roswell Goddard squad.

Junior Tanner Massanari threw six shutout innings in the opener while junior Craig Cook, playing for the first time after finishing the basketball season at state last week, worked four solid innings in the second game. Senior lefthander Stephen Encinias finished both games, allowing one unearned run in three innings.

“We played good enough to beat this team,” Cats coach Greg Hill said. “Against Roswell Goddard, we’re going to have to play good baseball.”

Clovis’ bats came alive for 13 hits in the second game, including three each by seniors Jake Burrell and Emery Sierra. The Cats scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth to end it on the 10-run rule.

“It’s going to be a little different (at Goddard),” said Burrell, who played after spraining an ankle in a sweep of Roswell High last week but went 5-for-8 in the two games. “Hopefully, we can do something good over there. They’re a tough team.”

Massanari allowed three hits and struck out four over six innings in the opener. He also delivered a two-run single in the third, then scored on Matt Southard’s double for a 4-0 lead.

Sierra added a two-run single in the Cats’ three-run sixth.

Chris Acosta went the distance for the Dons (3-13), allowing seven hits but only three earned runs as Palo Duro committed five errors.

Cook blasted an RBI double off the center field wall in the first inning of the nightcap, and Massanari’s RBI single made it 2-0.

Clovis loaded the bases on three consecutive singles in the third, and went up 5-0 on Massanari’s RBI groundout and Southard’s two-run double. Backup catcher A.J. Marez flared a bases-loaded, two-run single between right fielder Nate Juarez and second baseman Jesus Castallenos to finish off the game in the sixth.

Hill said he’s looking for his team to clean up some little things that, so far, haven’t shown up on the won-loss record.

“We’re fixing to get into the tougher part of our schedule,” he said. “We can’t keep making mental mistakes.”

Burrell said he’s anxious to see what’s ahead.

“Everybody’s getting better; everybody’s doing their job,” he said. “It’s going to be a little tough, but hopefully we can keep it going.”