One year ago, Las Vegas was unexpectedly on top of the Class 3A baseball world, as Robertson defeated West Las Vegas in the state championship game as the No. 7 and 8 seeds, respectively. The road to repeating that matchup is slightly easier this season, as Robertson earned the No. 3 seed in this year’s tournament, while West Las Vegas qualified as the No. 5 seed.
Robertson has a bye to the quarterfinals, set to take place May 15 at the Jennifer Riordan Spark Kindness Sports Complex in Albuquerque. The Cardinals will face the winner of the matchup between No. 6 seed Tularosa and No. 11 seed Ruidoso, a three-game series that will take place this weekend in Tularosa.
The Cardinals finished this season with a record of 15-6, winning seven of their last eight games to close out the regular season with plenty of momentum on their side. They have been led by a large group of players all season, with plenty of damage done up and down the lineup and enough pitching depth to help get them through a tough week at the state tournament.
Though they hit only four home runs as a team this season, they legged out 15 triples and 36 doubles, showing enough extra base power to scare the opposition.
On the other side of the bracket, West Las Vegas, the No. 5 seed, begins state tournament play this weekend in the first round against No. 12 seed Navajo Prep, with a three-game series set to take place May 9 and 10 at West Las Vegas.
The winner of that series will take on No. 4 seed St. Michael’s in the quarterfinals.
The Dons finished the season 16-7 overall, and 3-6 in district play. The Dons were excellent at home, going 12-2, but struggled away from their home ballpark. They excelled in non-district play, nearly finishing it undefeated, but concerns popped up when the level of competition increased, though the team learned valuable lessons they will take with them as the tournament gets underway.
Junior Estevan Collins led the Dons with four home runs, while batting .317 and driving in a team-high 16 runs. Senior Daniel Bustamante also excelled, batting .328 with 10 RBI.
The state tournament will run through May 17, when a new state champion will be crowned.
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