Cazares and Mondeau each drive in two as Aztecs Baseball snags Game 1 at South Mountain CC

Share

Tweet

Share

Share

Email

Comments

(Phoenix, AZ)  The Pima Community College baseball team (42-15) rallied on two occasions to take Game One of the NJCAA Region I, Division I Semifinals.

The No. 3 seeded Aztecs defeated No. 2 seed South Mountain Community College 5-4 to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-3 series.

Down 4-2 in the 8^th inning, sophomore Andrew Stucky (Canyon del Oro HS) hit a lead off single. Sophomore Hunter Faildo drew a walk to put two on base. With one out, freshman David Shackelford loaded the bases after he drew a walk. Sophomore Rocco Gump (Seton Catholic HS) hit a sacrifice-fly RBI to bring in Stucky to cut it to 4-3. Sophomore Braedon Mondeau (Cienega HS) put the Aztecs ahead for good with a two-run RBI single to score Faildo and Shackelford.

Freshman closer J.T. Drake pitched the final two innings and got a 6-4-3 double play to end the 8^th inning. He got a 4-6-3 double play in the 9^th as the Cougars stranded two on base to end the game.

The Aztecs trailed 2-0 when South Mountain’s Jared Glinski hit a two-run homer.

The Aztecs cut into the lead with Cazares hit an RBI single in the 4^th inning to plate sophomore Gage Mestas, who was hit by a pitch earlier in the inning. In the 6^th inning, Mestas drew a lead-off walk, and with one out, Cazares tied the game at 2-2 with an RBI single to score Mestas once again.

The Cougars took the lead with two runs in the 7^th inning off a sacrifice-fly RBI by Sam Christiansen and an RBI single by Core Jackson.

Cazares finished the game 2 for 4 with two RBIs while Mondeau went 2 for 3 with two RBIs. Mestas scored two runs and had two steals. Stucky was 2 for 5 with a run and Faildo went 1 for 4 with a run.

Sophomore Wyatt Hardy picked up the win after pitching one-third of an inning and Drake got the save after throwing the final two innings, giving up two hits with one walk. Sophomore Matt Cornelius got the start as he pitched five and one-third innings, giving up two runs (two earned) on four hits with three strikeouts and four walks.

The Aztecs and the Cougars will lock up for Game Two on Friday at South Mountain Community College. First pitch is at 2:00 p.m.

PC C      0 0 0 1 0  1 0  3 0   5 8 1
SMCC   0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0   4 9 1

W – Hardy (1-0). S- Drake (1). 2B: Stucky. SB: Mestas 2, Garcia, Mondeau

Press Release courtesy of Pima Aztec Athletics – Raymond Suarez