(Tucson, AZ) The Pima Community College baseball team (36-12, 27-11) closed out the regular season on Saturday as it dropped a couple of tough games at South Mountain Community College (31-14, 25-13).
The Aztecs won 27 games in ACCAC conference play for the first time since 1991.
Sophomore Terrell Huggins (Cienega HS) put the Aztecs on his shoulders in the second game.
Game 1: South Mountain CC Cougars 3, Pima CC Aztecs 2 (8 innings)
The Cougars rallied to score three unanswered runs as they won on a walk-off RBI double in the 8th inning.
The Aztecs struck first scoring two runs in the 1st inning. Freshmen Parker Schmidt and Alex Kelch (Tucson Magnet HS) drew back-to-back walks. Freshman Jose Enriquez hit an RBI single to plate Schmidt. Freshman Daniel Durazo (Salpointe Catholic HS) followed with a sacrifice-fly RBI to score Kelch and make it 2-0.
The Aztecs went hitless and had two walks for the rest of the game.
Enriquez finished 1 for 3 with an RBI. Schmidt and Kelch each went 0 for 2 with a run and two walks.
Freshman Kaden Palmer suffered his first loss of the year (3-1) as he pitched two and two-third innings giving up one run (none earned) on three hits with one walk. Freshman Bradon Zastrow started and threw four and two-third innings giving up one run (none earned) on five hits with nine strikeouts.
PCC 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1
SMCC 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 8 0
Game 2: South Mountain CC Cougars 10, Pima CC Aztecs 9 (8 innings)
The Cougars won the second game on a walk-off 2-run homer in the bottom of the 8th inning
The Aztecs took the lead at 9-8 in the top half of the 8th when Schmidt hit an RBI single to drive in Ballesteros.
The game went back and forth as Huggins proved to be a difference maker for the Aztecs. Down 2-1 in the 4th inning, Huggins put the Aztecs ahead with his first 3-run homer scoring sophomore JJ Rollon (Skyline HS) and freshman Trent Kiraly to give Pima a 4-2 lead.
Freshman Romeo Ballesteros (Salpointe Catholic HS) scored a passed ball later in the inning as the Aztecs scored all their runs with no outs in the inning.
The Aztecs trailed 6-5 in the 7th inning but Huggins came through again with another three-run blast scoring sophomores Angel Ochoa (Canyon del Oro HS) and Bailey Seeger to put them ahead again at 8-6.
Huggins finished the game 2 for 4 with six RBIs and two runs scored. Schmidt went 2 for 5 with an RBI while Rollon was 2 for 4 with a run. Ballesteros finished 1 for 3 with three runs.
Freshman Zac Czerniawski took the loss (1-1) as he pitched in the 8th. Sophomore Noah Estrella (Flowing Wells HS) started and threw three and two-third innings giving up three runs (one earned) on four hits with six strikeouts and one walk.
PCC 0 0 1 4 0 0 3 1 9 8 0
SMCC 0 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 10 11 2
The Aztecs will be the No. 2 seed at the NJCAA Region I, Division I Tournament.
They will host a three-team double elimination tournament with the No. 3 and No. 5 seeds at the West Campus Aztec Baseball Field from May 6-8. The winner advances to the Region I, Division I Finals from May 13-15.The Aztecs will play on Friday at 11:00 a.m. against the winner of Thursday’s game between the No. 3 and No. 5 seed. The other seeds and game times are TBA.
Press Release courtesy of Pima Athletics – Raymond Suarez
