BY CARL KNAUF/FOR THE JOURNAL
Grants’ quest for the school’s first state baseball title ended Thursday, falling to Albuquerque Academy 7-5 in the Class 4A quarterfinals.
In the first inning, Academy juniors Satish Raichur and Mat McNaney gave the No. 8 seed Chargers (17-10, 6-2 in 6-4A) a 2-0 lead , and the No. 1 seed Pirates (23-6, 8-0 in 5-4A) spent the rest of the game chasing at the Jennifer Riordan Sports Complex on the West Side.
A third-inning single by sophomore Matthew Delaney extended Academy’s lead, and the Chargers added two more runs in the fifth off a clutch two-out single by freshman Ryan Williams to make it 5-1.
“I think they played really well,” Academy head coach Chris Alexander said. “We left some guys on base … but I think it was a good effort by our squad.”
