Aztecs baseball falls on two walk-offs at South Mountain CC; Most ACCAC conference wins since '91
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.