Bloomfield baseball tops Shiprock 11-1, stays perfect in district

Bloomfield’s grip on District 1-4A looked stronger still at John Gutierrez Field, where the Bobcats shrugged off an early deficit and routed Shiprock 11-1 to keep their district record perfect. The win was Bloomfield’s fourth straight in district play and another sign that the Bobcats are separating themselves from the rest of the pack in northwest New Mexico.

Shiprock struck first when a balk brought home Lujan Benally in the opening frame, but Bloomfield answered immediately. Senior Elias Munoz helped his own cause by driving in Troy Jaramillo to tie the game 1-1, then settled in and took control from the mound. Munoz threw a complete game, allowing five hits and one run while striking out six, a steady outing that kept Shiprock from turning its early edge into anything more.

Bloomfield then backed Munoz with an offense that kept pressure on every inning. Jaramillo singled to center in the second to bring home Marcus Garcia for a 2-1 lead, and the Bobcats widened the margin with a pair of runs in both the third and fourth innings. Garcia’s double to left helped fuel the bigger push, and Bloomfield broke the game open with a five-run surge in the bottom of the fifth that turned the night into a run-rule style blowout.

Garcia and Gavin Pecotte each finished with two hits. Garcia drove in two runs, and Pecotte added an RBI. Jaramillo was on base in three of four plate appearances, scored once and stole two bases, showing the kind of small-game pressure that has made Bloomfield difficult to contain even when the first inning does not go its way. MaxPreps listed Bloomfield with a .476 batting average and a .600 on-base percentage in the game.

The result also fit a larger pattern. Bloomfield had won its previous four games with at least 10 runs in each, and under head coach Anthony Valencia the program has built a 43-13 record over two seasons, with two straight district titles and a Class 4A championship-game appearance. Shiprock, meanwhile, came in after a rough stretch that included lopsided losses to Aztec and Rehoboth Christian.

Bloomfield’s next listed game was a district matchup against Miyamura on Tuesday, and that date now looms as another measure of whether anyone in District 1-4A can match the Bobcats’ pitching, timing and depth. For now, the answer remains no.