Baseball Recap: Swink Comes Up Short

Swink had lost three straight at home, but on Friday they dropped their record down to 10-9 to make it four. They fell just short of the Las Animas Trojans by a score of 6-4. Unfortunately, that's the second time they've come up short against the Trojans this season, as they also lost their prior matchup 7-0 on Friday.

Landon Mills

Home Runs

03/22/25 vs Calhan	2
05/02/25 vs Las Animas	1
04/17/25 vs Manzanola	1
04/04/25 vs Crowley County	1

Swink saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Landon Mills, who went 2-for-3 with one home run, three RBI, and one double. Mills has become a key player for the Lions: the team is 3-1 when he posts at least one home run, but 7-8 otherwise. Another was Nate Cabrera, who went 1-for-3 with two runs, one stolen base, and one double.

As for Las Animas, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 15-3. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered a grand total of 4 runs in those games.

On Las Animas' side, Braydon Ortiz made a splash no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out 13 batters over 6.2 innings while giving up three earned (and one unearned) runs off seven hits. Ortiz has been nothing but reliable: he hasn't given up more than two walks in ten consecutive appearances. He was also big at the plate, getting on base in all four of his plate appearances with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI.

Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Swink will take on Rye at 10:00 a.m. on Friday. The Thunderbolts have struggled to contain batters this season (they've allowed 9.2 runs per game on average), something the Lions will no doubt try to take advantage of. As for Las Animas, they will face off against Burlington at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday.