On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Roswell Invaders baseball team hosted the Alpine Cowboys in a two-game series between the top two teams in the Mountain Division South.
The Invaders entered this game with a 13-13 record, already more than last season when they only had nine wins the whole year, while the Cowboys had a 19-11 record. The teams faced off the day before this game in Alpine, as there was supposed to be a doubleheader, but game two got rained out. Game one saw Roswell getting a 6-4 victory. Before that matchup, the teams faced off four times during the season, with the Cowboys winning three of those matchups.
Game one of this series saw the Invaders dominating in the early innings and taking a 9-1 lead by the end of the third innings. Alpine’s offense picked up after this, keeping up with the Roswell offense and even chipping away at the lead. It would not be enough, though, as the Invaders came away with a 13-9 victory.
The Invaders had a total of 15 hits, while the Cowboys had 12. Alpine committed more errors in the game with two. Sean Moore had the most hits for Roswell with four and provided one of the two home runs by the team. Moore also drove in five runs. The other home run came from Taylor Steig. Trevor Durr had the most hits for the Cowboys with four.
The winning pitcher was Noah Cantleberry of the Invaders, and he pitched 5.0 innings, struck out three batters and allowed six hits and four runs. Jaiden Proper from Alpine was the losing pitcher.
Game two saw great offense from both sides, as both teams scored double-digit runs. Even with both teams’ offenses doing well, there was one dominant team as the Invaders scored almost triple the runs the Cowboys did on their way to a 29-11 victory, which completed the series sweep.
Roswell again led the game in hits with 18, while both teams committed the same number of errors with three. Moore, Jorge Carreo and Anthony Castaneda all tied for the most hits on the Invaders with three, while the team also had four home runs. Those came from Carreo (who had two), Kirby and Christopher Martinez. Cade Labruyere and Sal Diaz led Alpine with two hits, while Diaz and Zach Tallerman had home runs.
Colin Sepulveda started the game on the mound for Roswell, but it was relief pitcher Jordan Gonzalez who got the win, and pitched 5.2 innings, struck out seven batters and allowed one hit and two runs. Jacob Bradley from the Cowboys was the losing pitcher.
Roswell is now 15-13 overall. The Invaders will travel to Oklahoma to take on the Blackwell FlyCatchers in a three-game series starting tonight. Game one is at Morgan Field in Blackwell starting at 5:30 p.m.
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