A year ago, 14 losses and 60 days were sandwiched between the only two victories for the Patagonia High School baseball team.
For the 2026 Lobos, the separation was less than 24 hours. Let’s call that a step in the right direction.
Patagonia opened its season with a 12-8 victory over San Miguel on Feb. 25 and followed that up with a 14-4 win over San Simon a day later.
“A 2-0 week feels really nice,” coach Ryan Shore said. “I like winning a lot more than losing.”
The Lobos had 10 players in uniform for the season-opening victory and nine for win No. 2 – with one player sidelined by illness – so it’s truly been all hands on deck. Shore likes the fact that they’ve been able to keep their focus and not let their mistakes compound, and that their batters are putting the ball in play and forcing the action on their opponents.
In the win over San Miguel, Patagonia had eight hits and forced the Vipers into 10 errors. Against San Simon, seven Lobos had hits, and they walked nine times with only five strikeouts. “Definitely a big emphasis for us is not striking out as much as we did last year,” Shore said.
Junior Kannon Shore, the coach’s son, pitched the first five innings in the season opener, and sophomore Matt Young finished up. Shore struck out 10 and gave up only two hits, but three walks, a hit batter and a throwing error led to four runs in the third inning.
“Overall, I thought he did great,” Ryan Shore said. “He’s still so tall and lanky that sometimes the mechanics get a little bit out of whack, but I think the strength and conditioning work he’s put in this year have really helped a lot.”
The Lobos scored two runs in the first inning – sparked by a leadoff triple by freshman Troy Hawkins – and built up a nice cushion with five runs in the second and four more in the third. Junior catcher Patrick Rodhe led the offense with three doubles. Six of the nine starters had at least one hit, and six Lobos scored runs.
“It’s fun having the first batter of the game, a freshman, leading off with a triple,” Shore said. “Nice way to get him started. Overall, I think the guys did a great job of putting the ball in play.”
Patagonia had to come from behind against San Simon. The Lobos trailed 4-1 entering the bottom of the third before turning the lineup over almost two full turns while erupting for 11 runs.
“The bottom of the order really came through for us,” Shore said. “We’re doing such a better job of grinding out at-bats.”
Rodhe and Hawkins led the offense with three hits apiece, while Marco Vasquez and Young each drove in three runs.
“No real big hits. It was all station to station – single, single, single, walk, putting together good at-bats,” Shore said.
Hawkins got the start on the mound and struck out seven while allowing four runs. Senior Miguel Albarran, filling in for the ailing Diego Padilla, got the last five outs.
“It was not planned,” Shore said. “Diego got sick the night before, and we had to scramble a bunch. Miguel was tough enough to get in there, and he pitched great. It was pretty spectacular for sure.”
The Lobos will be back in action with home games on March 6 versus Baboquivari and March 10 versus Fort Thomas.
“We’ve got some things to clean up, but it’s a nice way to start the season,” Shore said.
SCHEDULE OF GAMES
March 6 – Baboquivari, 3:45 p.m.
March 10 – Fort Thomas, 3:30 p.m.
March 20 – San Manuel, 3:45 p.m.
March 24 – at Hayden, 3:45 p.m.
March 25 – Valley Union, 3:45 p.m.
March 27 – at Duncan, 3:45 p.m.
March 31 – Ray, 3:45 p.m.
April 6 – St. David, 3:45 p.m.
April 10 – at San Manuel, 3:45 p.m.
April 13 – at Valley Union, 3:45 p.m.
April 16 – at Baboquivari, 3:45 p.m.
April 20 – at San Simon, 3:45 p.m.
April 22 – Duncan, 3:45 p.m.
April 24 – at St. David, 3:45 p.m.
April 27 – at Fort Thomas, 4 p.m.