The No. 2 Pima Community College baseball team advanced to the NJCAA Region I, Division II final series following a walk-off RBI single in the ninth inning by Arizona recruit Sean Barton, giving the Aztecs a 4-3 win over No. 3 Paradise Valley at Aztec Field.
Pima (47-11) won both of its games in the best-of-three semifinals series over Paradise Valley (35-20). The Aztecs are 17-2 in their last 19 games.
The Aztecs will play either No. 1 South Mountain (42-16) or No. 4 Chandler-Gilbert (31-27) in the region championship series next week. South Mountain will host Chandler-Gilbert in the deciding third game of that series Saturday at noon.
If South Mountain wins, Pima will travel there for the final series. If Chandler-Gilbert pulls off the upset, the Aztecs will have the opportunity to host the championship.
Barta, a freshman who is part of Arizona’s Class of 2025 recruiting effort, hit the walk-off single as a line drive to left field. The hit scored sophomore Caden Richards, who led off the inning reaching on an error.
“He threw me a curveball, I saw it earlier in the at-bat and saw it really well,” Barta said in a Pima press release. “I knew he was going to go back to it with two strikes. I stayed with my approach and got it done.
“It was a competitive game. The boys wanted to be here and we wanted to win more.”
After Pima’s 9-5 win in the first game Thursday, Pima coach Ken Jacome said his team had a unique saying all year.
“We’re playing Game 7,” he said. “Game 7 has been Game 20, Game 30, Game 40 and every game is Game 7 and we have to treat it like that. … We just have to come out and play our best baseball.”
Barta reflected on the Game 7 mantra after Friday’s game-winning hit.
“Coach Jacome talks about Game 7 and we just come to every game approaching it like that and the need to win is there when you think about it,” he said. “Everything goes how it should.”
The Aztecs got on the scoreboard in the fourth inning when sophomore Nolan Ganter had Pima’s first hit of the game with one out. Two batters later, sophomore Collin Senior hit a shot to center field to score Ganter.
The Pumas tied the game in the top of the sixth inning, but the Aztecs reclaimed the lead in the bottom-half of the inning.
Senior and Barta hit back-to-back singles with one out. Freshman Zach Plasschaert, formerly of Arizona, loaded the bases with a walk. Freshman Ernie Alvarez (Canyon del Oro) made it 2-1 with his sacrifice fly to plate Senior.
The Pumas took a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning with a two-run double, but the Aztecs tied it in the bottom of the inning when freshman Leon Cereceres hit a lead-off home run to right field.
“I got ahead 2-0 and I was looking for a hitter, looking for my pitch and I got it and I hit it hard. I got it middle-in and I was ready for it,” Cereceres said in the press release.
After Richards led off the ninth inning by reaching base on an error, Ganter hit a single. Both runners moved into scoring position after freshman Jackson Glueck’s groundout, setting up Barta’s game-winning hit.
Barta finished the game 2 for 3 with an RBI while Cereceres was 2 for 5 with an RBI and a run. Senior was 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run. Richards and Ganter each went 2 for 5 with a run.
Sophomore Tsubasa Tomii (5-1) picked up the win after he pitched the ninth inning and recorded three outs on seven pitches. Freshman Luis Pablo Navarro (Walden Grove) got the start and pitched six innings, giving up one run on five hits with five strikeouts and three walks on 96 pitches.
Recommended for you
