It was a tough, tough week for the McClave baseball team, as the Cardinals dropped four of five games.
    The Cards overall record now stands at 2-4, while the JV team is 0-1.
    They began their week with an 18-8 loss to rival Wiley in a single game on Monday. The Panthers pounded out 14 hits and scored in almost every inning, as the Panthers ended the game in six innings.
    Starting pitcher Mike Weber had a rough outing, as Wiley scored in three runs in both the first and second innings to lead 6-0. They roughed up Weber for eight runs in the third to lead 15-0 after just three innings.
    McClave made it respectable with six runs in the fourth on five hits but could have scored more if they hadn't been thrown out on the bases twice in the inning. Three pop fly singles from Ryan Geisinger, Tawnie Buxton, and Gage Coen set the stage for senior Brennan Reeder. His sharp single knocked in two, while Weber followed with another RBI-producing single.
     Reeder came in to pitch and looked good for two innings before Wiley 10-runned McClave in the sixth.
    The Baca County Bombers, a team comprised of Walsh and Campo/Vilas players, came to McClave on Tuesday. There McClave garnered its only win of the week when they came back to score two runs in the bottom of the sixth to edge the Bombers 7-6.
    It was Geisinger who provided the heroics in this one, as his two-RBI double gave McClave their final margin of victory. Weber, Coen, and Geisinger each had two hits on the day to pace the McClave offense.
    Geisinger ran his record to 2-0 with a good performance on the mound. He allowed just five hits in his six innings and only three earned runs. Senior Brennan Reeder picked up the save with a
 1-2-3 seventh inning.
     McClave lost the JV nightcap 5-4 when Baca County scored a solo run in the top of the fifth to break a 4-4 tie.
    Friday's anticipated showdown with last year's state runner-up Granada was over early, as the Bobcats shellacked McClave 22-2 and 11-2.
     Granada broke open a 2-0 first game with 10 runs in the third. Geisinger suffered his first defeat of the season, giving up eight runs in 2 and 2/3 innings of work, five of those earned.
    The Bobcats pounded out 15 hits in the opening game and 12 more in the second.
    "Granada just came out and hit the heck out of the ball," said McClave head coach Casey Coulter.
    "We didn't have any sort of an answer for them either."     McClave only had two hits in the second game, as Granada pitching shut down the Cardinal bats all day. Geisinger had the lone RBI for McClave in the second game with a single.
    “We have just shown a lack of experience," said Coulter about the dismal week for the Cards. "We just aren't hitting the ball, and we are looking at way too many good pitches. We have a lot of work to do," added Coulter.