BASEBALL PLAY-IN: Ryan McHale’s homers help Aggies hold off Coronado

Arbor View’s Ryan McHale wasn’t too happy about his first two at-bats on Monday at Desert Oasis.

His last two couldn’t have been better.

McHale slammed a pair of home runs and the Aggies held on for a 10-8 victory over Coronado to secure the final berth in the Division I state baseball tournament.

“It felt pretty good, because I had a couple bad at-bats in the beginning, swinging too hard,” McHale said. “I just tried to relax, swing softer and I put it over the fence.”

The Aggies (26-10) scored five runs in the bottom of the first, and appeared to be well in control, even after starter Sam Pastrone yielded a pair of bases-loaded walks in the second to cut the lead to 5-2.

McHale’s first homer, a towering three-run blast to left field, gave Arbor View an 8-2 lead after four innings.

The Aggies lifted Pastrone, who had allowed only two hits and struck out six in four innings. But relievers Jake Rucker and Shawn Martin combined to face four batters without getting an out.

Jacen Yergensen greeted reliever Chris Villarias with a two-run double that made it 8-5, and Jake McLean’s sacrifice fly cut the lead to 8-6.

Villarias settled in and retired five of the next six batters, and the Aggies led 8-6 going into the bottom of the sixth.

McHale led off that inning with a solo blast to center field, and Ben Cutting hit the next pitch for an opposite-field homer to left field to make it 10-6.

The Aggies ended up needing that added offense.

Villarias hit the first two batters he faced in the seventh, and after retiring the next two, allowed a two-run double to Dane Wasden.

Zach Dunham reached on catcher’s interference to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. But Anthony Olheiser flied out to center to end the game.

“We’ve been battling all season,” McHale said. “We’ve been playing it tough. We don’t really like winning by too many runs. We’ve just got to keep battling until the last inning.”

Cutting was 2-for-4 with a double, three RBIs and two runs, and Nick Quintana went 3-for-4 with two runs for the Aggies. Pastrone added a pair of singles in four at-bats.

Nate Ruiz was 2-for-3 with three runs and an RBI to lead Coronado (19-17).

The Aggies play Sunrise Region champion Green Valley (28-6) in the state tournament at 7 p.m. Thursday at Durango.

Arbor View lost twice to Bishop Gorman in the Sunset title game on Saturday, and played its sixth game in seven days on Monday. But McHale said the team is good to go heading into state.

“We’ve got plenty of gas left,” McHale said. “We’re not even started yet.”