Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Seven players suspended from LLHS baseball team

Job just got harder for first-year coach

T.S. Last News-Bulletin Sports Editor; tslast@news-bulletin.com

Los Lunas The beleaguered baseball program at Los Lunas High School took another hit when seven players were suspended from the team last week.

The suspensions came as the result of an incident on the morning of March 17, when the Tigers were in Silver City participating in the Fighting Colt Classic.

LLHS coach James Doyle said the players sat out that afternoon's tournament championship game, won by the Tigers, 5-4, over Gadsden.

Doyle declined to name the players or provide details of the incident. He referred questions to Dr. Dan Webb, LLHS's principal.

Los Lunas Schools are on spring break this week, and Webb could not be reached for comment on Monday or Tuesday morning.

The suspensions couldn't have come at a worse time for the Tigers, who had put together a four-game win streak after starting the season with six-straight losses.

"I thought it was coming together," said Doyle, who is in his first year as the Tigers' coach. "After Silver City, it seemed the wheels started to come off."

Los Lunas (4-9) has lost three straight games since returning from Silver City, getting mercy-ruled in both games of a doubleheader with Las Cruces High and losing 8-6 to Sandia last week.

The sanctions came the week prior to the start of the District 5-5A season. The Tigers open district play at Manzano on Thursday.

"We're about as ready as we can be," said Doyle, who has to fill three starting spots and lost a pair of starting pitchers because of the suspensions. "We won't know until we get our feet wet on Thursday."

The Los Lunas baseball program has fallen on hard times since it appeared in the Class 5A state championship game in 2002.

The Tigers went 2-24 the following year and have had four coaches in the past five seasons.

Doyle was hired to try to revive a program that had posted a 29-72 record since its state championship appearance. Now, the first-year coach's job has gotten a lot tougher.

"It's going to take a lot of work," he said.

The Tigers' next home game is at 10 a.m. Saturday against the Highland Hornets.

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