The Nucla Mustangs (3-6) piled up 18 hits against the Dolores Bears (0-7) on Tuesday to run away with a 17-6 win in their league opener.
Dolores starter Brandon Ward held the visiting Mustangs to just three runs in the first two innings, but going into the top of the third with the game tied 3-3, Nucla went off for six more runs against Ward and reliever Josh McCoy.
The Bears cut the lead in half with three runs in their half of the third inning, but the Mustangs put together a seven-run fourth inning that included a two-run homer by senior Caden Colson to pull away for good.
McCoy and Ward each helped themselves early by driving in runs in the first inning, but the Bears were held hitless and scoreless in the fourth and fifth, as Nucla won by run-rule, 17-6.
“They just hit better than us today. That sums it up,” said Dolores head coach Rusty Hamilton. “Overall, I wasn’t totally upset with it, but we’ve got some things to improve on.”
The Bears had four errors in the contest, and following the game, Hamilton spoke on the team’s miscues.
“Instead of getting an error, we would double-up errors,” he explained. “And we’re giving people runs and giving people extra bases.”
Hamilton said that the Bears would work on correcting the errors in practice, but that it’s hard to replicate game situations.
“Reps in practice don’t seem like they’re the same as a game situation,” he continued. “We’ve got to get the critical thinking, and just doubling up errors is bad and costs us a lot of runs.”
Although the loss moves the Bears to 0-7 on the season, Hamilton pointed towards his group of freshman as a bright spot.
“I really can’t focus on one person, but I’ll say our freshman,” he said. “As of today I had three freshmen starting varsity.”
Brendan Hite started in left field for Dolores, Niel Faries was at second and Dakota Smith at first.
“As a whole, our freshmen are coming out strong,” Hamilton continued. “I’m looking forward to a lot of things from them this year and next year.”
The Bears will next host Dove Creek on Saturday at 11 a.m.