For the second time in a week, the Pima Community College baseball team rallied from a significant deficit to pull off a crucial victory to remain in the ACCAC playoff hunt.
On Friday, Pima turned a 7-0 deficit in the first inning into a 12-10 victory over GateWay at the Gene Autry Park in Mesa.
Last Saturday, the Aztecs were down 6-0 at home to Mesa before rallying for a 16-6 victory.
Pima (25-24, 17-19 in ACCAC) is above .500 overall for the first time since March 31, when it was 22-21.
The victory moved the Aztecs ahead of GateWay (24-26, 16-19) in the ACCAC standings.
Pima is in fifth place, only a half-game behind Chandler-Gilbert (26-25, 17-18) for fourth place, which is the last qualifying spot for the ACCAC Region I, Division II playoffs that start April 30.
Only four games remain in the regular season, including Saturday’s game at Scottsdale (27-22, 20-16) at noon.
Friday’s win over GateWay gives the Aztecs three victories out of their last four games after a stretch in which they went 6-16.
The score was tied at 10 heading into the ninth inning when freshman Cooper Kruk (Catalina Foothills) led off the inning with a single, and fellow freshman Damian Lorta (Desert View) followed with a two-run homer to right field on the first pitch.
The Aztecs took their first lead with five runs in the fourth inning and did all their damage with two outs.
Sophomore Jackson Glueck hit an RBI single to score freshman Adriel Figueroa-Brito. Two batters later, Lorta hit a two-run double to drive in Glueck and Kruk to cut the lead to 8-7. Lorta tied the game when he scored on sophomore Matt MacDonald’s RBI triple. Sophomore Mike Jones (Canyon del Oro) put the Aztecs ahead with an RBI single that scored MacDonald.
The Geckos tied it with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The Aztecs took the lead again at 10-9 when MacDonald hit a line drive to left field to plate Lorta, who doubled in the previous at-bat.
GateWay tied it again at 10 in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The Geckos scored seven runs in the top of the first inning and one run in the second inning.
The Aztecs started their comeback rally with two runs in each of the second and third innings.
Lorta hit his first RBI double in the third inning as he went 4 for 5 with five RBIs, four runs, a home run and three doubles.
MacDonald finished 3 for 5 with two RBIs, two runs and a triple. Kruk also went 3 for 5 with three runs.
Figueroa-Brito and sophomore Leon Cereceres each had an RBI and a run while Jones had two RBIs.
Freshman Jesse Neretlis picked up the win in relief as he pitched three innings, giving up one run on two hits with three strikeouts and one walk on 49 pitches.
Sophomore Jose Grijalva (Sunnyside) was the first pitcher out of the bullpen as he threw 5 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on five hits with two strikeouts and three walks on 109 pitches.
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