No. 2 Pima Community College must win the next two games against No. 1 South Mountain after losing 9-1 in seven innings Thursday in the opening game of the best-of-three NJCAA Region I, Division II series at Phoenix.
Game 2 of the series is Friday at 2 p.m. at South Mountain.
The Aztecs (47-12) were limited to three hits — all in the third inning — by South Mountain starter Marty Romero (9-2) and the Cougars tallied 14 hits.
Pima cut the lead to 2-1 in the top of the third on Leon Cereceres‘ RBI single that followed Andrew Grenert’s single and advancement to second base on an error.
Caden Richards then hit a single but the inning ended when Cereceres was thrown out at home on the play.
Romero then retired 11 of the last 13 batters he faced. He finished with two walks and five strikeouts.
South Mountain (44-16) scored three runs in the bottom of the third to pull away to a 5-1 lead.
After scoring twice in the fifth and once in the sixth, the Cougars reached the eight-run mercy-rule lead in the seventh inning.
Marcus Romero and Drew Johnson hit consecutive singles to lead off the seventh for South Mountain. Marcus Romero scored following Johnson’s hit because of an error during the play.
Starting pitcher Nate Gray (7-2) took the loss for Pima. He allowed 10 hits and seven runs (four earned) with four strikeouts and one walk in five innings.
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