San Juan Broncos suffer three losses, look to rebound for strong regular season conclusion

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
The San Juan High School baseball team has endured a challenging stretch of games since spring break concluded, suffering losses in three of their last four outings.
Despite the tough swing, the Broncos are still two games above .500 at 9-7 and are ranked fourth in the Utah 2A standings.
The team played a home-and-home series with South Sevier on April 7 and 10, splitting those two contests.
They beat the Rams 9-5 in Blanding on April 7, but lost 11-8 in Monroe on April 10. San Juan overcame deficits twice in the game at home.
South Sevier opened the scoring in that one with a run in the top of the first and another in the top of the second. The Broncos battled back to tie the game at two runs apiece in the bottom of the second.
The Rams reestablished their lead with a three-run showing in the top of the fourth inning, but again San Juan answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 5-all.
The Broncos kept coming offensively, taking their first lead of the game with one run in the bottom of the fifth. Then they added three insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Jagger Nieves and Kreed Herring combined on the mound to keep South Sevier off the board for the final three innings as they secured a 9-5 win.
Nieves and Remy Whatcott both went 3-for-4 at the plate. Whatcott hit a couple doubles and drove in two San Juan runs. Nieves had one RBI and scored two runs.
Nache Young was 2-for-4 on the day with a double and an RBI. Herring was 2-for-3 with one RBI. Baylor Nielson was 1-for-3 but drove in two Bronco runs in the win.
Brandt Bingham was also 1-for-3 with one RBI. Keilan Hutchins went 2-for-2 and scored a run for San Juan.
Nieves pitched 5.2 innings and earned the win, allowing five runs on just four hits while striking out six South Sevier batters. Herring allowed just one hit and no runs, striking out two in his 1.1 inning of relief.
On Friday, April 10 the Broncos packed their bags and headed west to take on the Rams on their home field. Unfortunately San Juan was a little slow out of the gate, spotting South Sevier five runs in the first two innings.
True to form, the Broncos donned their rally caps and stormed into the lead with four runs in the top of the third inning, three runs in the fourth, and one more in the fifth, making the score 8-5.
But the Rams answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut the San Juan lead to just one run. The Broncos were unable to score in the top of the sixth nor seventh, and were still clinging to that 8-7 lead as South Sevier came to bat in the bottom of the seventh.
Unfortunately Rams senior Houston Black hit a walk-off grand slam to bring an end to the hard-fought, exciting region matchup between the two teams. The final score was 11-8.
Herring, Bingham, Young, and Hutchins all collected two hits apiece in the loss. Herring hit a home run and drove in a very impressive four San Juan runs.
Jonah John had one hit and one RBI on the day. Nache Young drove in one run and Grady Lacy also collected one RBI in the game.
Starting pitcher Kreed Herring allowed seven runs on eight hits while striking out four. Keilan Hutchins suffered the loss, as he allowed the four runs on four hits in the final inning.
The loss snapped a six-game San Juan winning streak, and they were looking to get back in the win column when they traveled to Gunnison for a doubleheader with the 2A East-leading and 2A third-ranked Gunnison Valley Bulldogs.
Storms in the early part of the week forced the cancellation of what would have been a home game for San Juan against Gunnison and resulted in the Broncos being forced to travel to play both games on the road.
They were both hard fought and exciting. In the first game it took three innings, but San Juan finally opened the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the third.
The Bulldogs cut that lead in half with one run in the top of the fourth, but the Broncos got that run back in the bottom of the inning to lead 3-1.
Unfortunately that was the last San Juan baserunner to cross the plate as Gunnison Valley scored three runs in the top of the sixth to close out a come-from-behind 4-3 win.
Nieves and Nielson both hit triples in the game and Young hit a double. Young, Nieves, and Hutchins all had one RBI apiece.
Jagger Nieves pitched a solid game, but unfortunately still suffered the loss. He struck out two Gunnison batters on the day.
Looking to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season the Broncos hit the diamond for game two of the doubleheader with the Bulldogs.
This time they fell behind early on when Gunnison Valley plated two runners in the first inning and one in the third to establish a 3-0 lead.
San Juan got a run in the top of the fifth, but the Bulldogs answered with two in their at-bat, making the score 5-1.
The Broncos began to rally, scoring a run in the sixth to make the score 5-2. It looked like they might be able to complete the comeback when they scored two more runs in the top of the seventh.
But Gunnison was able to get the final out, shutting down San Juan’s rally one run short in a 5-4 final.
Whatcott was 2-for-4 at the plate with a double. Bingham, Young, and Nielson all got one hit apiece in the loss and Bingham tallied San Juan’s only RBI in the game.
Baylor Nielson suffered the loss on the mound though he pitched well. The senior allowed just three runs on five hits while striking out seven Bulldog batters.
San Juan is looking to string together some strong performances as they head into the final four games of the regular season over the course of the next week.
They played local region rival Grand County in Moab on Tuesday, April 21 after the San Juan Record print deadline.
They’ll travel to Bayfield, CO to take on the Wolverines on Thursday, April 23, then return home to host Grand County on Friday, April 24.
The team will conclude the regular season against a solid Montezuma-Cortez squad in Cortez, CO on Monday, April 27.