The Pirates for a third time this year, came up short (3-2) against St. Pius in the Nusenda 4-A baseball quarterfinal game this last Thursday in Albuquerque. This quarterfinal game was the most intense of the three matchups for its sheer importance.
“We put ourselves in a position to tie the game in the top of the seventh [inning] – we just couldn’t get it done,” said Grants High School head baseball coach Mike Furbee.
Down 3-1 for five innings, the Pirates finally rallied at the top of the seventh inning with senior Chris Chambers leading the attack, hitting a double to left field.
The Pirate dugout and fans roared to life.
Eight grader Joziah Ortega next up to bat hits a ground ball to the shortstop who throws it over the first baseman allowing Chambers to get to third base and Ortega to second base on that same error. The next batter, Estevan Barela hits a sacrifice fly allowing Chambers to score a run, 3-2.
Ortega makes it to third base. Pirates begin putting the pressure on St. Pius.
Diego Lopez, catcher for the Pirates, strikes out— two outs.
The following batter, senior Dominick Gonzales, a heavy hitter for the Pirates, was intentionally walked by St. Pius to the boo’s of the Pirate fans.
Noah Lundstrom, also a senior, was the next batter up. He hit a fly ball to center field and Sartan center fielder Kaiden Swanson swallowed up his glove– that’s the ball game—three outs.
The Pirates 2025 state championship run has come to an end, as did their bid to win two state championships back-to-back.
“Definitely a tough way to end the season that had high expectations,” said GHS head coach Furbee. “I was expecting a close game as the previous two–but I thought we had done everything we needed to do leading up to the game.”
Furbee later added, “We had to figure out their freshman pitcher, but he continued to have us off balance the majority of the game.”
That freshmen pitcher was Hunter Jiron, known for his signature sinking curveball. Jiron pitched a strong game, earning an ERA of one while allowing four hits, two runs, one earned run, and seven strikeouts against the Pirates.
“Overall, it was a good season with nothing to hold our heads down about,” said Furbee.
Niko Young pitched six innings for the Pirates, allowing six hits, three runs, three earned runs and six strikeouts.
Scoring runs for the Pirates were Diego Lopez and Chris Chambers, both scored runs for the Pirates.
Estevan Barela and Noah Lundsrom had one RBI apiece.
The Pirates will graduate seven seniors: Boudy Melonas, Chris Chambers, Dominick Gonzales, Diego Lopez, Ethan Taylor, Niko Young and Noah Lundstrom.
The seventh seeded Pirates defeated Santa Teresa 2-1 to advance and play St. Pius in the quarter finals.
The Pirates ended their season with a 18-10, 5-3 In the previous two matchups, the Pirates lost to St. Pius 3-1 on April 4 and lost 2-1 on April 22.
St. Pius lost the semifinal game to Bloomfield High School 6-2.
Artesia defeated Bloomfield in the championship game by a score of 6-3