(Tucson, AZ) The Pima Community College baseball team (45-16) struggled on offense in Game 3 of the Region I, Division I Finals on Saturday.
The No. 2 seeded Aztecs fell to No. 4 South Mountain Community College 11-1 as they claimed the runner-up trophy. Pima finished the game with four hits.
The Aztecs got on the board in the 2nd inning to take the lead. Sophomore David Shackelford reached base on a walk, stole second base and advanced to third on a passed ball. He scored on another passed ball as Pima generated three of their four walks in that inning.
The Cougars scored 11 unanswered runs with one in each the 3rd, 4th and 5th innings. They tacked on three more in the 6th inning and five in the 9th.
Sophomore Nick Arias (Tucson Magnet HS) finished the game 1 for 4 while freshman Nolan Ganter (Pinnacle HS) went 1 for 2 with two walks. Freshman Chase Cummings was 1 for 2. Sophomore Antonio Avila finished 1 for 1 and Shackelford went 0 for 2 with a run and a walk.
Freshman Maclain Roberts took the loss as he pitched five innings, giving up three runs (one earned) on four hits with six strikeouts and two walks on 91 pitches.
“It’s disappointing not winning the Region tournament but we understand that the (West) District tournament is what you need to win to get to the World Series, and that’s the end goal,” Pima baseball coach Ken Jacome said. “Our guys understand some of the things we need to do this week to get ourselves ready to play. Our team is confident that we’ll be ready come Thursday.”
SMCC 0 0 1 1 1 3 0 0 5 11 10 1
PCC 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 3
L – Roberts (5-2). 2B: Arias. SB: Shackelford.
The Aztecs will play in the NJCAA West District Tournament from May 16-18. All games will be at South Mountain Community College. The winner of the tournament advances to the NJCAA Division I College World Series in Grand Junction, CO.
Press Release courtesy of Pima Aztec Athletics – Raymond Suarez
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