Las Cruces, NM: The Mayfield baseball team lost to Rio Rancho in the finals of the Southern New Mexico Invitational 11-1.

Rio Rancho scored in the first inning and slowly built its lead throughout.

"They're a very good team," Mayfield coach Miguel Gomez said. "They hit the ball well, they're funadamentally sound. There's a lot of things we want to work on to get back to the top. But we'll bounce back and move forward."

Rio Rancho opened the game with a run in the first.

The Trojans battled back, knotting up the score in the second.

Nathan Enriquez doubled and was followed by a Freddie Young RBI base hit.

Rio Rancho didn't panic however, methodically working through the contest and scoring runs at a steady clip to pull away.

The Rams are a solid outfit, coming off a state title and handling the opposition throughout the Invite.

Rio Rancho knocked off Oñate 10-9 in the opening game of the tourney and then beat Cibola 12-3 in Round 2.

Gomez said that he was dissapointed in his team's fielding throughout the competition and their propensity to fall behind during games.

Leading up to its game against Rio Rancho, Mayfield dug itself into holes against both Gallup and Las Cruces before coming back for victories.

The Trojans fell behind Gallup 7-2 and Las Cruces 6-2 in Round 1 and 2, respectively. Both times the team found a way to come back. They ran out of luck against the Rams however.

"It's very early in the season and we have a lot of work to do," Gomez said. "Our kids are getting better day-by-day and know what to do.

"They may get down on themselved but they have to overcome those mistakes. Tonight we were not the ballclub I'm used to seeing. We'll bounce back and continue to work hard. We want to compete district-wide and get back to that state championship."

In the consolation brackets on Saturday Las Cruces beat Cibola and Oñate knocked off Doherty.

Las Cruces 8, Cibola 7

Las Cruces High knocked off Cibola in the consolation bracket.

Michael Portillo picked up the win for the Bulldawgs.

Doherty 4, Oñate 3

Oñate lost to Doherty, Colo., in the consolation bracket on Saturday.