The ninth-ranked Pima Community College baseball team will open the ACCAC Region I, Division II playoffs Thursday at home as the No. 2 seed after ending the regular season Saturday with a 13-1 win in six innings at Mesa.
Pima (45-11, 29-11 in ACCAC) will play No. 3 Paradise Valley (35-18, 27-13) in a best-of-three series starting at 3 p.m. Thursday at the West Campus Aztec Field.
No. 1 South Mountain (41-15, 33-7) will host No. 4 Chandler Gilbert (30-26, 25-15) in the other semifinal series starting at a date and time to be announced.
Pima earned its third straight run-rule victory Saturday in the win at Mesa (30-26, 17-23).
The Aztecs scored 40 runs in the last three games.
They closed the regular season with six straight wins and were 15-2 in their last 17 games. Their 29-11 record in ACCAC play is the most wins since 1987 when they won 30 games.
The Aztecs took control in the first inning when they scored seven runs.
Sophomore Nolan Ganter drove a pitch deep to center field for a three-run homer, bringing around freshman Leon Cereceres and sophomore Caden Richards. They had singled and walked, respectively, to start the inning.
Freshman Jackson Glueck hit a single and sophomore Collin Senior drew a walk. With one out, freshman Matt MacDonald found a gap in center field for a two-run single to make it 5-0.
MacDonald scored on sophomore Andrew Grenert’s RBI single. Grenert scored the final run of the inning off an error.
Freshman Zach Plasschaert made it 8-0 in the third inning with a lead-off home run to center field.
Glueck hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning to plate Richards and give Pima a 9-0 lead.
The Pima lineup scored another four runs in the sixth inning. Cereceres led off with a single and Richards followed with a two-run homer to left field to put the score at 11-1.
Senior hit an RBI single to drive in Ganter, and MacDonald had an RBI to bring in Glueck.
Ganter finished 2 for 4 with three RBIs and two runs while Cereceres went 3 for 4 with two runs. Richards was 1 for 2 with two RBIs, three runs and two walks. Glueck was 2 for 4 with an RBI and two runs. MacDonald went 1 for 4 with two RBIs and a run. Senior, Plasschaert and Grenert each finished an RBI and a run.
Sophomore Lucas Casey (Canyon del Oro) picked up the win, pitching five innings and giving up one run on five hits with seven strikeouts and one walk on 75 pitches. He improved to 7-2.
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