The No. 16 Pima Community College baseball team secured two big wins by scores of 8-7 and 14-8 on the road on Saturday in its ACCAC doubleheader at No. 3 South Mountain in Phoenix.
Freshman Leon Cereceres went 5 for 8 with three RBIs and seven runs for Pima (37-9, 21-9 in ACCAC) against South Mountain (32-14, 24-6).
Sophomore Collin Senior also finished 5 for 8 with six RBIs, two runs and two walks. Fellow sophomore Caden Richards went 3 for 7 with two RBIs and four runs. Freshman Andres Castro (Pusch Ridge) and freshman Sal Valenzuela (Nogales) picked up the wins.
Game 1: (16) Pima 8, (3) South Mountain 7: The Aztecs rallied from a five-run deficit to shock the Cougars in the first game while the relief pitching held the South Mountain offense in check.
Trailing 7-2, the Aztecs starting the rally in the fifth inning when sophomore Nolan Ganter hit an RBI single to bring in Cereceres.
Cereceres came through on a two-run single to score Senior and freshman Zach Plasschaert in the sixth inning to make it 7-5. Cereceres would score on an error by the shortstop while Richards scored on an error by the catcher as Pima tied the game at 7 after scoring four runs in the sixth inning.
Freshman Jackson Glueck hit a leadoff double to start the seventh inning. Freshman Matt MacDonald came in as a pinch runner and advanced to third base on a wild pitch. Senior hit a groundout to shortstop, but it scored MacDonald to put the Aztecs ahead.
Sophomore Tsubasa Tomii pitched the seventh inning and struck out the first two batters. The Cougars got two runners on base via a walk and a single, but the next batter flied out to end the game.
Cereceres finished the game 3 for 4 with two RBIs and three runs. Richards went 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run. Plasschaert was 2 for 2 with an RBI, a run and two walks while Senior closed it out going 1 for 2 with an RBI, two runs and two walks. Ganter was 1 for 4 with an RBI.
Castro (2-1) picked up the win as he pitched 2 1/3 innings in relief, giving up one hit with three strikeouts. Tomii picked up his third save of the season going one inning, giving up one hit with two strikeouts and one walk.
Game 2: (16) Pima 14, (3) South Mountain 8: The Aztecs took the lead in the first inning and countered a rally in the ninth inning to hold off South Mountain.
The Cougars scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to cut Pima’s lead to 10-8. The Aztecs came back with four runs in the top of the ninth inning.
The Aztecs loaded the bases with a single and two walks. Glueck drew a bases loaded walk to score sophomore Andrew Grenert, which was followed by freshman Sean Barta hitting a two-run single bringing in Cereceres and Richards to make it 13-8. Senior capped off the inning with an RBI double to plate Glueck.
Sophomore Seth Lee pitched the ninth inning and got three strikeouts as the Cougars left one runner on base to end the game.
Senior hit a two-run double in the first inning to help put the Aztecs up 3-0.
The Aztecs went up 7-0 in the fouth inning when Glueck hit a two-run single to bring in Cereceres and Richards. Two batters later, Senior hit an RBI single to score Ganter.
The Cougars scored two runs in the bottom of the fouth, but the Aztecs came back with two of their own in the top of the fifth inning. Cereceres and Richards had back-to-back RBI hits to make it 9-2.
The Cougars scored three runs in the fifth inning, but the Aztecs tacked a run on in the sixth inning frame after Grenert’s RBI triple scored Plasschaert as Pima led 10-5.
Senior went 4 for 6 with five RBIs and three doubles. Cereceres was 2 for 4 with an RBI and four runs while Glueck went 2 for 3 with three RBIs and three runs. Grenert finished 3 for 4 with an RBI and run and Richards was 1 for 3 with an RBI and three runs.
Valenzuela (3-1) picked up the win in relief as he pitched three innings, giving up two runs on three hits with seven strikeouts and three walks on 61 pitches
The Aztecs will be back at the West Campus Aztec Baseball Field on Saturday when they play Mesa. First game starts 12:00 p.m.
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