Peter Dindinger — NMMI Sports Press
DEXTER — It was a work of art.
Pitch after pitch, Luis A. Patron was in a groove Saturday night during the Hal Bogle tournament championship.
He etched himself into the history books by tossing a complete-game no-hitter with 20 strikeouts.
Patron struck out his final batter in the bottom of the seventh to help the New Mexico Military Institute Colt baseball team to a 13-0 win over the Loving Falcons.
NMMI captured three Hal Bogle tournament championships from 2017-2019. The tournament went on a hiatus due to the pandemic and the shortened 2021 spring season.
This marks the second no-hitter of 2022, with the last occurring nine days ago.
Patron’s 20 strikeouts are now ranked second in the state record books for a seven-inning game. He was one shy of tying the top spot that was set by Tohatchi’s Roland Yazzie in 2006.
Loving had only three hitters reach base on three walks. There was only one ground ball hit in the entire game by the Falcon offense.
“I feel really good. I thank my coaches, my family, all my coaches in Mexico, and I worked a lot to get this goal,” Patron said. “I’m really thankful for the team because for me the team helps me a lot when I’m pitching and when I’m batting.”
Luis A. Patron led off the first inning with a double to left.
Tegin Maloney then drilled an RBI triple to right to bring in courtesy runner Gael Garza. Maloney later made the score 2-0 after crossing home plate on a wild pitch.
After striking out his first batter, Patron allowed a walk, but then fanned his next five batters until the bottom of the third when Ryan Davis made contact on a grounder to short.
The Colts had a lull in the offense before rallying for four runs in the top of the fifth.
Kendrick Tsosie and Luis A. Patron hit back to back singles. Maloney came into the clutch with an RBI double.
Tsosie later scored on an error by the right fielder to extend NMMI’s lead to 4-0.
Luis C. Patron capped off the rally with an RBI single that drove in Miguel Rivera.
The Colts put the finishing touches on the ballgame by scoring seven runs in the top of the seventh.
NMMI’s final rally was sparked by an RBI single by Luis C. Patron. Alexys Valverde then drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in a run.
Bailey Mego came through with an RBI single past the third baseman to make the score 10-0.
Luis A. Patron helped his own cause by bringing in two runs on a single to center. Maloney then drove in the final run of the inning on an RBI single.
On the mound, Patron improves to 4-0 with an ERA of 0.00. He has allowed four hits in 19 innings pitched while he has tallied 49 strikeouts.
Opponents are currently hitting .068 against Patron.
The Colts pounded 10 hits.
Maloney was a home run shy of the cycle, going 3 for 5 with a single, double, triple and three RBI. The freshman is hitting .542 on the year with 13 hits.
Luis A. Patron finished 3 for 4 at the plate with two singles, a triple and two RBI. Luis C. Patron tallied two singles and three RBI to go 2 for 4.
Mego and Tsosie went a combined 2 for 7 with two singles and an RBI.
“That was awesome. He came to play, he came to compete,” said NMMI head coach Charlie Ward about Patron’s pitching performance. “We jumped on them early. I think that was a big plus.
“We got that two spot right off the bat. Very proud of Luis. He’s a stud. I’m very proud of this team. We’re 6-0. We learned a lot about ourselves in these three days.”
>> UP NEXT: NMMI hosts Capitan at 4 p.m. Monday. The Colts will then host the three-day Sertoma Colt Classic beginning Thursday with a game against Tularosa at 7 p.m.
NMMI 13, Loving 0
LOVIN….0000000 — 0 0 3
NMMI….2000407 — 13 10 0
Bobby Paraz, Ayden Leyva (4), Diego Leija (7). Luis A. Patron. W — Patron (4-0). L — Parraz. 2B — NMMI: Tegin Maloney. 3B — NMMI: Tegin Maloney, Luis A. Patron. HR — None.
Records — Loving (3-1); NMMI (6-0).