4A BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Goddard wins first state baseball title since 2017
Marcos Rodriguez's first-ever homer sparks the Rockets to an 11-6 victory over Artesia
In his last game of competitive baseball, Goddard right fielder Marcos Rodriguez did something he had never done before on the high school diamond.
His sky-high home run to left field at Lobo Field knotted the score at 3-all and sparked the second-seeded Rockets to an 11-6 win over No. 1 and District 4-4A rival Artesia in the Class 4A state championship baseball game Saturday.
It鈥檚 the first blue trophy for Goddard (24-7) since 2017, and it ruined the Bulldogs' (27-9) hopes of repeating.
鈥淚 just had warning track power all season until today, apparently,鈥� Rodriguez said of his first career homer.
And, oh, what a time to go deep.
鈥淢y last game, you couldn鈥檛 ask for anything better to go out like that,鈥� Rodriguez said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 literally a dream. I knew he just kept throwing me sliders and I was like, 鈥楾hrow it to me again and I'm gonna hit it.鈥� I hit hard.鈥�
With Artesia leading 3-1, the unexpected jolt, which came right after a Cameron Brown double, got the Rockets sizzling.
鈥淚t was a great momentum swing,鈥� Goddard coach Gilbert Alvarado said. 鈥淭he only thing that scared me was (Artesia left fielder) Charlie Campbell. He鈥檚 so athletic out there when he climbed the wall. I thought, if he catches that, we鈥檙e really in trouble in this game, but it helped get our dugout some more life. But that was the momentum swing that we needed, that really was.鈥�
It wrested the early advantage away from the Bulldogs, who opened the scoring in the first on an RBI hit from Daelon Pacheco, but Goddard starter Jadon Herrera was able to get out of a two-out mess with runners on second and third.
The Rockets tied it in the third on a sacrifice fly from Jett Fuentes, but Artesia went right back up in its half of the inning with two runs on a Jack Byers RBI single and an error.
That set it up for Rodriguez to park it and then Goddard took control in the fifth on a three-run inning, with Rodriguez again figuring prominently, smacking an RBI double to left to score Fuentes, who also had a run-scoring double in the inning.
Herrera went five innings, allowing six hits while striking out five and no walks.
鈥淲e just got him pitching this year, really. He did some last year, but this was his first year really pitching,鈥� Alvarado said. 鈥淎nd he had to come through with not his best stuff, but we told him, 鈥楬ey, you don't have to throw harder, just pitch better, and we鈥檒l get it back, we鈥檒l get it back.鈥� And so he hung us some zeros.鈥�
Goddard exploded for five runs in the seventh to put the game all but out of reach, with Rodriguez picking up his fourth RBI on a bases-loaded walk and Carmelo Ortega plating two on a single.
For Goddard, it was a good thing the Rockets put up those runs as Artesia got to reliever Oliver Wakefield for a couple of bloop hits and a couple of line drives to score three and make it somewhat tense in the bottom of the inning.
鈥淚t feels great to be with my team. I played with them since I was like 5,鈥� Rodriguez said. 鈥淚t feels great to win this. This is a big accomplishment for all of us. And some of us are going to move up, some of us aren鈥檛 going anywhere. This is our last game, so it鈥檚 really big to end it off on like this.鈥�
