The Cochise College baseball team traveled to Prescott, Ariz., for a doubleheader against Yavapai College on April 16. Cochise entered the day with a one-game lead over the Roughriders as the ACCAC playoff race is getting tighter by the week. Cochise baseball finished off the week with another sweep with a 6-4 victory in game one and a 13-8 victory in game two.
The Apaches got on the board in the first inning after Gerardo Hernandez drew a walk to start the game, and then Connor Caskenette singled, advancing Hernandez to third. Hernandez scored on the throw down to the second baseball giving the Apaches a 1-0 lead. Yavapai evened things up in the bottom half of the first inning. Cochise took the lead back for good with two runs in the third inning. Caskenette hit a solo homer in center field over the batter’s eye, and Dylan Bradford grounded out, pushing another across, making it 3-1. Caskenette continued to wreak havoc at the plate with an RBI double in the top of the fourth, extending the lead to three.
Makai Desoto added another in the top of the fifth with an RBI double, making it 5-1. Leobardo Melendez gave the Apaches a five-run lead in the top of the fifth with an RBI single. Yavapai scored three runs in the failed comeback on a home run by Alex Ulloa, a single by JT Taylor, and a single by Sean Rimmer. Marco Ozuna closed the door on Yavapai with a game-ending double play earning him his eleventh save of the season and giving Cochise a 6-4 win in game one.
Cochise tallied 13 hits in the game, taking advantage of a great offensive day to hit in Prescott, AZ. Caskenette, Gerardo Hernandez, Makai Desoto, and Cameron Crotte collected multiple hits for Apaches. Caskenette went 3-for-4 at the plate to lead Apaches in hits.
In the second game of the doubleheader, Cochise baseball jumped out to an early lead when Cameron Crotte drove in two on a single. The Apaches didn’t stop there. In the center field, sophomore Aaron Marsh crushed a three-run home run over the batter’s eye, giving Cochise a five-run lead in the first.
Freshman LHP Evan Shaw got the start for the Apaches. Shaw went five and two-thirds innings, allowing four runs on five hits, striking out nine and walking one. Martin Miranda, Angel Ortiz and Mathias Lacombe had relief appearances that kept Cochise in the game. Yavapai pushed two runs across, closing the gap, but Cochise kept the offensive pressure and answered back with three runs in the top of the third. The runs came off an RBI double by Crotte, a passed ball and an infield single by Alan Ochoa. Aaron Marsh continued to stay locked in at the plate, giving Cochise a 9-2 lead in the fourth with an RBI double. Cochise continued to overpower the Roughrider pitchers with a two-run home run by Alan Ochoa and a solo shot from Eduarny Martinez in the fifth inning, making it 12-2. As it looked like the Apaches were going to run away with the game, Yavapai scored two runs in three consecutive innings, chipping away at the lead, making it 12-8. Cochise would push one more across in the top of the ninth inning, making it 13-8. Yavapai made things interesting and loaded the bases with two outs, but Mathias Lacombe got a ground out to third to close the game out, giving Cochise the win. The Apaches racked up 13 hits in the game. Martinez, Crotte, Marsh, and Ochoa each had multiple hits for Cochise.
“It was a really good week for us, obviously. I am really proud of these guys for always staying in the moment,” Head coach Todd Inglehart said. “There is no time for any self-reflection. This league is the best in the country for a reason. There is always a difficult challenge ahead of you. Pima is that next difficult challenge.”
Cochise baseball is back in action on Tuesday, April 19, at home against Pima Community College for a doubleheader.
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