Hale muscles Spartans to home win over Aggies
Cimarron-Memorial’s Nathan Hale doesn’t look like a power hitter.
But the slender left fielder showed some pop Thursday.
Hale had a homer, a triple and a double to help the Spartans to an 8-2 home victory over Arbor View.
“He can hammer the ball. He’s a strong little kid,” Cimarron coach Mike Hubel said. “That’s his forte is that left-center gap. He hammers the ball that way.”
Hall, a left-handed hitter, hit all three of his extra-base hits to left field.
“That’s what I love about him,” Hubel said. “He doesn’t try to pull the ball. He stays within himself. In high school they pitch you 90 percent outside, anyway, and that’s right to his strength.”
Cimarron trailed 2-0 when Hale came to the plate with one out in the bottom of the first and hit a one-hopper off the left-field fence for a double.
He moved to third on an error and scored on a wild pitch. Another error plated a second run and tied the game.
“We took advantage of a couple of their miscues, and that hurts teams,” Hubel said. “Any way they come across, they still count the same. We’ll take them however we can get them.”
Cimarron starter Kevin Dorantes gave up two runs in the first on a homer to dead center by Zach Quintana.
“He made a mistake to Quintana, and you can’t make mistakes to good hitters,” Hubel said. “He threw him a changeup first pitch, and he hung it, and (Quintana) hammered it.”
Outside of that pitch, Dorantes was solid. He allowed five hits, struck out eight and walked none in six innings.
“He threw well. That was his first start of the year,” Hubel said. “It was a big start, and he lived up to the expectations.”
Arbor View also helped Dorantes with two baserunning mistakes. Jordan Godman led off the third with a walk, but Cimarron catcher Cody Clark picked him off first base. Tyler LeBaron hit a double to the gap in right-center field with one out in the third but was cut down trying to stretch it to a triple.
Hale tripled high off the wall in left-center and scored on a sacrifice fly in the third to make it 3-2.
He led off the bottom of the fifth with a solo homer to left-center. Dorantes added a two-run homer later in the inning.
Cody Stafford had two hits, an RBI and a run for Cimarron.
Quintana was 2-for-3 for Arbor View.
