Pueblo Azteca Blue team splits double header setting up a must-win scenario to advance
Teams continued to battle it out Friday on day two of the 44th annual Tony Andenucio Memorial Tournament at Runyon Sports Complex and the Pueblo Azteca Blue team did not disappoint.
The first game of the day featured a matchup between Victus and Azteca Blue.
The Blue team rallied late but fell short of overcoming an early lead by Victus, dropping the game 5-4. In the second game, the Azteca team thwarted Woodward 4-0.
More: Pueblo Azteca Blue dominates day one of the 44th Tony Andenucio Tournament
Azteca rally falls short
With Frank Flores Jr. on the mound, the Azteca Blue started off the game the same way as day one — by giving up one run in the first inning. He would give up a total of 3 runs before being pulled for Ethan Ayala.
Offensively the Azteca team scored one run in the second inning when Colton Calderon reached first on a single and scored on a single by Donovan Robinson. Then in the third inning, the team scored two more runs to tie the game up at 3-3.
Victus scored again in the fifth inning to take a one-run lead. In response, the Azteca Blue team scored another run in the bottom of the inning to tie it up once again.
The visitors did not go quietly into the night as they mustered up one more run in the top of the seventh inning to take the lead once again.
Blues send the Travelers packing
This game started out slow for both teams; however, in the bottom of the second inning, the Blue team opened the scoring with a two-out two-RBI double by JoJo Mendoza. They scored again on a wild pitch to go up by three.
On the mound for the Blue team was Javian Baca. He was stellar in this one as he pitched a complete game, only giving up three hits along the way, shutting out the Travelers.
The Azteca team added one more run to their score before the end of the game.
Head Coach Dylan Gavin spoke about the team’s performance.
“Bouncing back in that second game after an emotional one-run first game, that kind of shows who these kids are,” Gavin said. “That was good to see. We learned from it, flush it, get back on it and just go and compete in the next game, and that's really kind of a good mold to take on the rest of the summer.”
Gavin said the first game of the day against Victus is one that he hopes the team can learn and grow from throughout the rest of the tournament and the summer.
“First off, we saw a great arm from Victus today,” Gavin said. “They're a really good team and they're well coached and they're fundamental sound. That's what we want to see. We want to play a competitive schedule. We want to see good arms on the bump. We want to see teams that play baseball the right way. I think just being in that type of game with the atmosphere that we had, naturally, that's just going to carry over to games throughout the summer.”
As far as this tournament goes, the Azteca team is now set up to have a big matchup on the last day of round-robin. If the team can win two on Saturday, they have a chance of winning the division and advancing to the semi-finals on Sunday.
“It goes back to our main goal this summer — show up to get better,” Gavin said. “Show up to get better individually, show up to get better as a team. Our main goal is to develop and not get too caught up in ‘This is a really big game’ or ‘It's not a big game’. Stick to our identity and that's to show up to the ballpark ready to play, ready to compete, and find a way to get better from the game before.”
Baca also spoke after his performance against Woodward.
"My mindset on the mound is just to get ahead of batters,” Baca said. “Start with the fastball, getting on top of the count so I don't have to work backward.”
Even after giving up his first hit of the game, Baca stayed calm and composed on the mound, simply trusting his teammates to pick him up.
“I just trust my defense behind me,” Baca said. He has also been productive at the plate helping the Azteca team offensively.
“I look for first-pitch fastballs. If it's there, it's there, so swing at it,” Bacca said. “If it's something other than that, look for something in the zone that we can barrel up on.”
Lastly, Baca reiterated coach Gavin’s thoughts on Saturday’s games.
“Just keep swinging the bat, go out there and compete,” Baca said, "no matter what."
Tournament Update
On Saturday, Azteca Blue will face off against Post 22 at 5 p.m. on Hobbs Field followed by a matchup against Greely at 7:30 p.m.
Here is a quick update on the rest of the teams' scores and standings so far after day two of the 44th annual Tony Andenucio Memorial Tournament.
Day one results:
Woodward 12 Paker Lightning 8
Cheyenne 6 Burkburnett 4
Victus 4 Greeley 0
Post 22 2 Victus 1
Azteca Blue 16 Parker Lightning 1
Azteca Red 6 USA Prime 5
Post 22 12 Woodward 0
Marucci 5 USA Prime 4
Day two results:
Post 22 4 Greeley 3
Greeley 2 Woodward 1
Cheyenne 10 Azteca Red 2
Victus 5 Azteca Blue 4
Azteca Blue 4 Woodward 0
Victus 9 Parker Lightning 3
Marucci 5 Burkburnett 4
USA Prime 11 Cheyenne 0
Standings:
American Division
Post 22 3-0
Victus 3-1
Azteca Blue 2-1
Greeley 1-2
Woodward 1-3
Parker Lightning 0-3
National Division
Marucci 2-0
Cheyenne 2-1
Azteca Red 1-1
USA Prime 1-2
Burkburnett 0-2
More: Summer baseball returns to Pueblo: 44th annual 'Nuch' baseball tourney kicks off this week
Christopher Abdelmalek is a sports reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain and can be reached at cabdelmalek@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @chowebacca. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo Azteca sets up a must win Saturday to advance to 'Nuch finals
