The Colt baseball team moved one step closer to the vaunted blue state championship trophy with a 9-0 win over Sandia Prep in the quarterfinal round of the 2025 NMAA Class 3A State playoffs.
Senior hurler Nicolas Barcenas got the complete game win, shutting out the Sun Devils over seven innings with 9 strikeouts.
The Colts broke a 0-0 tie in the bottom of the third inning after a single by senior Javier Yepiz, followed by a steal of both second and third base. Yepiz then came home on a wild pitch.
After a fourth-straight shutout inning by Barcenas – who had pitched just 8.2 innings previously for the Colts during the regular season – NMMI plated four more runs. Senior Noah Martinez started the rally with a single to right, senior Richard West drew a base on balls, junior Grant Maloney brought both in with a double down the third base line, and Yepiz brought in Maloney with a line-drive triple down the right field foul line.
NMMI added three more in the top of the fifth, two on an RBI single by junior Nicolas Barcelo and another on the sac fly to center by Grant Maloney.
The Colts final run came via a single by sophomore Rodolfo Anaya who later scored on a two-out double by Tegin Maloney.
NMMI collected ten total hits against Sun Devil pitching, including a 3-for-3 performance from Tegin Maloney. Grant Maloney took home the RBI title with three, and Yepiz scored twice to lead the Colts in the runs-scored category.
And again, Barcenas was superb on the mound: complete game, shutout, nine strikeouts, allowed just two hits and just two walks.
“I was just thinking about throwing strikes,” said Barcenas. “That was my only goal. I was mainly throwing fastballs and I have to give credit to my defense – they did most of the work.”
“All week we’ve been preparing for this and our guys came out fired up,” said NMMI head coach Brad Blackwell. “Senior pitcher Nicolas Barcenas – who’s been playing through multiple injuries this season – came out and pitched his tail off. He showed his absolute leadership and the team just jumped on his back and followed suit.”
“Our guys started off at the plate a little cold,” continued coach Blackwell. “But once we got that first hit and first run, everyone started clicking: lots of hits, extra base hits, and stolen bases. We were also clean on defense and Rodolfo Anaya was just lights-out in right field.”
Next up for the top-seeded Colts will be the semifinal round vs. fifth-seeded West Las Vegas at 3:30 pm MDT tomorrow (Fri. May 16).
West Las Vegas beat fourth-seeded St. Mike's 6-0.
Tomorrow's game will be streamed live (audio only) on Jack 106.5 FM or on the NMMI Colt page on the KSVPTV.com website: https://www.ksvptv.com/nmmi-high-school/
The NMAA Class 3A State Championship bracket can be found here: https://www.maxpreps.com/tournament/DCzRxfFdfUyue2XEB9PzuA/piKXj3vsRUuabVtHtwu-7Q/baseball-25/2025-nusenda-credit-union-state-baseball-championships-3a.htm