Clovis second baseman Omar Sosa throws to first base in an attempt to turn a double play during Clovis first game against Roswell High Tuesday at Bell Park. (CNJ staff photo: Jesse Wolfersberger)
By Jesse Wolfersberger: CNJ staff writer
The Clovis Wildcats broke a five-game losing skid with a late-inning comeback win against Roswell Tuesday at Bell Park.
The teams were scheduled to play a doubleheader, but the second game was canceled due to rain and is not expected to be made up.
In the first opener, the Cats fell behind 3-0 in the first inning, but rallied late and picked up a 4-3 win on an RBI single by senior Daniel Casarez in the bottom of the seventh.
Casarez said after the first inning, it felt like another loss was on its way.
“When you get down like that,” Casarez said. “You think, ‘Here comes number six.’ It’s hard to come back from 3-0. Your team gets down a little bit. You just have to come back and play as hard as you can.”
The Cats’ rally began in the fifth inning, when Matt Ulibarri put the Cats on the board with a RBI double. Ulibarri stole third, and jogged home on a throwing error.
Clovis (6-7) tied the game in the bottom of the sixth when Cade Wheeler drove in Devin Sweet with an infield single.
Casarez came on threw a shutout inning in the top of the seventh, then hit the game-winning single in the bottom half.
“With two strikes I just had to get something into play,” he said. “I’ll take that base hit.”
Roswell coach Mark Beeman said his team should have scored more runs and shut the door on a potential comeback.
“We just kind of let down after that,” Beeman said about the first inning. “We had the chance to put them away early, but it didn’t happen.”
The Coyotes fell to 2-9.
Clovis coach Shane Shallenberger credits his starter Cade Wheeler for not unraveling after a tough start to the game.
“After the fist inning I thought Cade settled down and kept us in the game the rest of the way,” Shallenberger said. “Then we battled back with the sticks and got a win — got a big win.”
Wheeler went six innings.
The Cats committed no errors in the win, an area that plagued them during the five-game slide.
“We didn’t field the ball very well,” Shallenberger said. “We made error after error. We’re trying to back on track so we can get ready for district down the road.”
Clovis committed 24 errors during the losing streak.
