Salpointe Lancer Baseball Classic

March 13-17: Reid Park Annex

 

Walden Grove beat Tanque Verde 7-0 Tuesday morning at the Lancer Baseball Classic held at the Reid Park Annex in Tucson. Walden Grove lost to Salpointe 5-4 in the 4A semifinal round last year and the Red Wolves look to make another run this year under Murray Hicks despite the graduation of several standouts including Milo Rushford who was drafted by the Kansas City Royals.

Tanque Verde was a dominant 1A power a decade ago with two state championships and a runner-up finish and the Hawks look to compete in the 3A South this spring under Tom Belter, who led Empire to runner-up finishes in 2010 and 2013.

The Red Wolves threatened to score in the bottom of the second inning after Parker Witt doubled with two outs and then Guillermo Metzler singled to center but Matt Greiner threw home to throw out Witt for the third out.

Walden Grove loaded the bases on walks in the bottom of the third for Damian Lorta and he delivered on a 3-RBI double to score Owen Kramkowski, Daniel Novelo and Alejandro Martinez. Tanque Verde had two on with one out in the top of the fourth on singles from Trevor Carlson and Beck Caballero but Luispablo Navarro picked up two strikeouts to end the threat.

Andrew Romo collected an RBI to score Kramkowski to make it 4-0 in the bottom half of the fourth and Romo picked up another RBI in the sixth to score Javier Lopez. Martinez knocked in Novelo to make it 6-0 and then Lorta grounded out to score Romo for the 7-0 margin.

Carlson went 2-for-3 to lead Tanque Verde. Caballero and Landon Walker also picked up hits with Walker hitting a double. Chase North and Matt Greiner saw pitching action for the Hawks.

Romo went 2-4 with two RBI, Lorta had four RBI and Martinez had an RBI. Navarro collected nine strikeouts for the win and Romo also saw pitching time on the mound.

Walden Grove plays Desert View Wednesday morning at the Lancer Classic and Tanque Verde is scheduled to play Las Vegas Faith Lutheran in the afternoon.