Offensive explosion boosts New Home baseball to sweep of Olton in Ashton Lucio's return
LITTLEFIELD — Butterflies hummed around Ashton Lucio's stomach as the New Home baseball team headed north Thursday.
Seven months removed from tearing his ACL in football, Lucio, who was cleared for full participation earlier this week, was being handed the ball to start the Leopards' Region I-2A quarterfinal series against Olton.
The nerves were even worse when the Leopards got to Littlefield. Lucio began to warm up, thinking he had about 40 pitches, maybe a couple of innings, for his return to the baseball field. He had no idea what to expect.
Brazos Beck, who tore his own ACL during football in 2021, helped guide Lucio through the process of coming back from a knee injury.
Lucio and Beck had the same doctor, similar physical therapy. Beck, the senior, is someone Lucio said he looks up to, so he took his words to heart. Having gone through his own return — first to the gridiron, then to the diamond — Beck admitted he didn't know what Lucio would be capable of.
He left being rather impressed.
"Like he hadn't even skipped a beat," New Home coach Brady Webb said.
Not only did the Leopard offense explode for 42 runs over two games, Lucio pitched a one-hit gem in the first game before Beck took the mound in the second. New Home (26-3-3) walked off the field with a pair of wins — 27-0 and 15-5 — a series sweep and a return trip to the region semifinals.
"I wasn't really trying to do too much," Lucio said. "I didn't think I was gonna do that good. I thought I might have got pulled maybe in the second inning or so, but I kept the pitch count pretty good and just did my job."
Lucio didn't exactly have to be at the top of his game Thursday. New Home erupted for a 27-0 victory in the series opener. That included nine extra-base hits from eight different players.
The win, though, was amplified by Lucio's stellar pitching performance. The junior went all five innings, striking out 12 batters, allowing one hit and one hit batsman.
Olton coach Matthew Ingle said he knew Lucio was pitching in his first game of the season against his squad. That's what made it even more impressive.
"The good part about it for us," Ingle said, "is I don't even think he's clocking his (velocity) where he wants it to be. I think he's gonna pick up another five, six, seven, eight miles an hour, and cool for him. Go get after it.
"(New Home is) somebody else's problem now and the Lucio kid is someone else's problem now as well."
In their deepest playoff run in school history, the stage appeared too big at times for the Mustangs (21-7-2). Brody Langford had the lone hit off of Lucio and started the second game with a single. It would take another two innings for Olton to produce a run, a five-run frame that forced New Home starter Logan Addison — who had three hits, including two doubles in the second contest — from the game.
Beck stepped in for Addison, trying to keep the lead. The bases were loaded with one out when Beck took over. Olton got a two-run double from Paul Lopez to make it a 6-5 game, but Beck stopped the bleeding from there. It helped the Leopards provided nine runs in their half of the inning to reclaim the momentum for a 15-5 win.
"My goal was kind of just throw strikes," Beck said. "I couldn't afford to walk anyone. I just wanted to force him over the middle of the plate and he hit it well, but after that I adjusted and our defense made plays and we hit the ball again. They picked me up after that, so good job on the team for that."
New Home, which is ranked fifth in the latest Texas High School Baseball Coach Association rankings, advances to play the winner of the series between sixth-ranked Albany and 10th-ranked Hamilton in the region semifinals. Despite the lopsided scores in the first three rounds of the playoffs, Webb has no concerns about his team being ready for whichever team is next.
"Our boys know exactly what's coming next," the New Home head coach said. "Whoever comes out of Hamilton and Albany is going to be real stinking good. And we're aware of that. We've talked about that really from day one."
Region I-2A quarterfinal baseball
Game 1: New Home 27, Olton 0 (5)
New Home 357 38 — 27 21 0
Olton 000 00 — 0 1 3
Ashton Lucio. Alan Vasquez, Brennon Huguley (2), Paul Lopez (3) and Cole Montgomery (4). W — Lucio. L — Vasquez. 2B — New Home, Ryder Starkey, Logan Addison, Brendan Beckham, Jackson Raines, Owen Morris. 3B — New Home, Brody Emert, Ryder Watkins, Mason Turnbow, Starkey.
Game 2: New Home 15, Olton 5 (5)
Olton 005 00 — 5 4 3
New Home 249 0x — 15 9 0
Brody Langford and Logan Lassiter (3). Logan Addison and Brazos Beck (3). W — Addison. L — Langford. 2B — Olton, Paul Lopez; New Home, Addison (2), Mason Turnbow and Brenden Beckahm. 3B — New Home, Jackson Raines and Ryder Watkins.
Records: New Home 26-3-3, Olton 21-7-2
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Offensive explosion boosts New Home baseball to sweep of Olton in Ashton Lucio's return
