Third baseman Noah Gallardo prevents an errant throw from getting away. Photo by Dave Lumia 
Troy Hawkins dusts himself off after scoring the Lobos’ first run on a head-first dive. Photo by Dave Lumia 
Second baseman Josh Fields makes a throw to first base to try to turn a double-play. Photo by Dave Lumia 
Miguel Albarran is greeted by catcher Patrick Rohde after a three-up, three-down inning. Photo by Dave Lumia 
Catcher Patrick Rohde attempts to fire up his teammates after Duncan took a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Photo by Dave Lumia
The Patagonia Lobos fought back from a couple of huge early deficits but were unable to get over the top in Wednesday night’s home finale, falling to Duncan 16-11.
The Lobos trailed 9-2 in the second inning and 11-3 in the third before rallying to tie the game, but a potential go-ahead run was waved off, and they ultimately ran out of gas in the final two innings.
The loss leaves Patagonia with an 8-8 record with two games remaining – Friday at St. David and Monday at Fort Thomas. Duncan improved to 13-4.
The night got off to a rocky start for the Lobos, with some sloppy play and three errors leading to three runs for Duncan in the first inning. Patagonia got two runs back in the bottom of the inning on a walk by Troy Hawkins, a single by Kannon Shore, a wild pitch and a single by Miguel Albarran, but things took a turn for the worse in the second. Four hit batters, two walks, a wild pitch and two hits led to six runs and a 9-2 deficit.
“You get rid of those first two innings, we played good baseball,” Patagonia coach Ryan Shore said. “But I’m very proud of how we fought back. If this had been the last few years, we would have just given up and lost by 15 runs.”
Duncan scored twice more in the third to make it 11-3, but the Lobos refused to fold. They strung together four hits in the bottom of the inning, highlighted by Diego Padilla’s two-run single, to narrow the gap to 11-7. The rally continued in the fourth, with two runs scoring on a Duncan error, and a two-out Kannon Shore single bringing home two more to tie the scofe at 11. Hawkins attempted to make it three runs on Shore’s hit when the throw got away from Duncan’s catcher. It appeared that he touched the plate before the tag, but the home-plate umpire called him out.
The Lobos had another chance to take the lead in the fifth, putting runners on second and third with two outs, but they couldn’t come through with the go-ahead hit.
Duncan broke the tie with three runs in the sixth thanks to a couple of infield hits that were just beyond the reach of Patagonia’s defense, then tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh.
A few breaks here or there or a few inches one way or another might have resulted in a different outcome, but that’s baseball. Despite the end result, Ryan Shore was impressed that the Lobos’ didn’t go down without a fight.
“They’re playing baseball now,” he said. “What I really liked today, I haven’t seen a lot of kids diving after balls and trying to get after it, and they really did tonight. And that’s what I was most proud of, how they competed.”
It was the final home game for three Patagonia seniors – shortstop Padilla, third baseman/pitcher Noah Gallardo and outfielder Albarran.
“I’m proud of them,” Shore said. “They give it all they had, which is great, that’s all you can control. You can’t control if you’re going to win, but you can control how you play and your attitude and how hard you try, and they all did a great job of that.”
Gallardo and Albarran have been part of the team for four seasons – and they experienced just three wins total in the three previous seasons. Albarran said the reality of his last home game was bittersweet.
“It’s kind of sad,” he said. “I’ve been playing baseball since I was six. My mom’s been to every home game that she could.
“The last few seasons haven’t been the best, but this year has been really fun. I’m just happy that in our last year I get to go out with a winning season.”
The Lobos remain ranked 12th in Class 1A and in a strong position to qualify for the state tournament for the first time in five years. Albarran said the Lobos are looking forward to extending their season beyond next week.
“When we were down 9-2, it looked like it was over, but I believe in the guys and knew we could pull through,” Albarran said. “I’m glad that this team knows that they are capable of beating any team if we play like that after the first two innings.”
Ryan Shore said the Lobos are aware of the prospect of postseason play but not focusing on it.
“We’ve talked about it, but we don’t really look at where we are,” he said. “We just go to the next game and try to win. It would be really cool if we could win these next two games to finish above .500, but I just want us to continue what we’re doing and take it one game at a time.