The Pima Community College baseball team split its first two ACCAC games of the season on Saturday against Mesa at the West Campus Aztec Field.
The No. 22 Aztecs (8-3, 1-1 ACCAC) lost their four-run lead in the first game but took control to win the second game against the Thunderbirds (8-2, 1-1).
Sophomore Leon Cereceres went 5 for 8 with three runs in the two games. Sophomore Jackson Glueck was 4 for 9 with three RBIs and two runs. Freshman Damian Lorta (Desert View) was 2 for 6 with two RBIs, a run and two walks. Sophomore Jose Grijalva (Sunnyside) took the loss in relief and sophomore Owen Myers got the win in his start.
Game 1: Mesa 5, (21) Pima 4 (10 innings)
The Thunderbirds scored five unanswered runs to snatch the win in extra innings.
The Aztecs scored two runs in the first inning. Freshman Aciel Guillen (Salpointe) hit an RBI double to score Cereceres, who led off the inning with a single. Lorta made it 2-0 as he knocked in Guillen with his RBI single.
Glueck made it 4-0 in the fifth inning when he hit a two-run single, bringing in sophomore Ramon Martinez and Cereceres.
The Thunderbirds scored four runs to tie the game in the sixth inning and Mesa’s Jesse Aguirre hit a solo homer in the 10th to put them up for good. The Aztecs went down in order to end the game and had three hits in the final five innings.
Cereceres went 4 for 5 with two runs scored. Glueck went 2 for 5 with two RBIs and Guillen was 1 for 4 with an RBI and a run. Lorta finished 1 for 4 with an RBI and a walk.
Grijalva took the loss as he pitched 4 2/3 innings, giving up one run on three hits with five strikeouts on 49 pitches.
Freshman Hayden Green (Sabino) pitched five shutout innings but struggled in the sixth as he went 5 1/3 innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on three hits with three strikeouts and two walks.
Game 2: (21) Pima 9, Mesa 1 (7 innings)
The Aztecs broke the game open with eight unanswered runs to earn the split.
Freshman Cooper Kruk (Catalina Foothills) put the Aztecs up for good with a lead-off home run to left field to start the third inning. Sophomore Quintin Hennesy hit a sacrifice fly to score Glueck and give Pima a 3-1 lead.
The Aztecs got four straight RBI hits from freshman Adriel Figueroa-Brito, Kruk, Lorta and Glueck as part of their six-run fourth inning.
Figueroa-Brito went 3 for 4 with an RBI and two runs. Kruk finished 2 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs.
Glueck was 2 for 4 with an RBI and two runs. Cereceres finished 1 for 3 with a run. Lorta was 1 for 2 with an RBI and a run. Hennesy went 1-for-3 with two RBIs.
Myers picked up the win as he pitched four innings, giving up one unearned run on two hits with two strikeouts and one walk on 66 pitches. Sophomore Brady Hall got the save as he threw three innings, giving up one hit with six strikeouts and one walk on 49 pitches.
The Aztecs will return to the West Campus Aztec Field on Tuesday when they host Paradise Valley in an ACCAC doubleheader. First game starts at noon.
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