The ninth-ranked Pima Community College baseball team closed out its regular-season home schedule on Friday with a significant ACCAC win over No. 3 South Mountain 12-0 in five innings at the West Campus Aztec Field.
Pima (44-11, 28-11 in ACCAC) remains a game ahead of Paradise Valley (35-17, 27-12) for the No. 2 seed in the Region I, Division II Playoffs.
South Mountain (40-15, 32-7) has the No. 1 seed clinched with one game remaining in the regular season.
Pima concludes its regular season schedule Saturday at Mesa (30-25, 17-22) with the game starting at noon.
In Friday’s win over South Mountain, the Aztecs scored four runs in the second inning to take the lead.
Sophomore Collin Senior scored on an error to put the Aztecs on the board. Sophomore Andrew Grenert hit an RBI single to score sophomore Zach Plasschaert (formerly of Arizona). Freshman Leon Cereceres capped the inning with a two-run single to center field, driving in freshman Ernie Alvarez (Canyon del Oro) and Grenert to make it 4-0.
The Aztecs poured it on with eight runs in the fourth inning.
Freshman Matt MacDonald set the tone with a lead-off triple and scored on Alvarez’s RBI single in the next at-bat. Alvarez later scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-0.
Sophomore Caden Richards found a gap in right field for a single, bringing in Grenert and Cereceres. Glueck grounded out to shortstop but the play scored Richards to make it 9-0.
Senior made it a double-digit lead with his RBI single to score sophomore Nolan Ganter. Alvarez produced his third RBI of the inning, hitting a two-run single to right field, bringing around Senior and MacDonald.
Alvarez 2 for 3 with three RBIs and two runs. Cereceres went 2 for 3 with two RBIs and a run while Senior was 2 for 2 with an RBI and two runs. Richards went 1 for 3 with two RBIs and a run while MacDonald was 2 for 3 with two runs. Grenert finished 1 for 2 with an RBI and two runs.
Freshman Luis Pablo Navarro (Walden Grove) improved to 7-2, pitching a five-inning shutout as he gave up three hits with eight strikeouts and two walks on 86 pitches.
The Aztecs recognized their 15 sophomores before the game: Christian Castilla, Senior, Taylin Oana, Sean Barta, Seth Lee, Nate Gray, Richards, Ray Jesse, Grenert, Tsubasa Tomii, Lucas Casey, Maclain Roberts, Alex Gilliam, Ganter and Plasschaert.
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