The No. 21 Pima Community College baseball team closed its three-game series with Yavapai on Saturday at the West Campus Aztec Field with a split of doubleheader, enabling the Aztecs to win two of the three games in the weekend series.
The Aztecs (6-1) lost the first game of the doubleheader but bounced back to take two out of three from the Roughriders.
Freshman Damian Lorta (Desert View) went 2 for 4 with two RBIs, two runs scored and three walks in the two games. Fellow freshman Juan Hernandez (Tucson) went 2 for 7 with an RBI and two runs while freshman Aciel Guillen (Salpointe Catholic HS) also finished 2 for 7 with two runs.
Lorta, Hernandez and Guillen were teammates of Sunnyside’s Little League team that came a game away from reaching the Little League World Series in Williampsort, Pa., in 2019. Former Sunnyside teammate Mikey Muniz is also a freshman with the Aztecs.
Sophomore Cam Grenert and sophomore Owen Myers got the decisions on the mound.
Game 1: Yavapai 4, (21) Pima 3
The Aztecs scored three runs in the first inning but produced just one hit for the rest of the game.
Lorta hit an RBI single to bring in Hernandez to put the Aztecs on the board. With two outs, freshman Nate Shoemaker (Catalina Foothills) and sophomore Max Leyva (Tucson) had back-to-back RBI singles scoring Guillen and Lorta respectively as Pima went up 3-0.
The Roughriders scored two runs in each the second and third innings to take the lead for good.
The Aztecs left the bases loaded in the seventh inning to end the game.
Lorta finished 1 for 2 with an RBI and a run while Shoemaker went 1 for 3 with an RBI. Leyva was 1 for 2 with an RBI and a walk.
Grenert took the loss as he pitched two innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on two hits with three strikeouts and three walks on 61 pitches.
Game 2: (21) Pima 7, Yavapai 2
The Aztecs scored six runs in the second inning and proved to be plenty as Myers produced a strong outing on the mound.
The Aztecs loaded the bases with no outs in the second inning. Sophomore Mike Jones (Canyon del Oro) drew a walk to bring in Hernandez. Sophomore Ramon Martinez followed with a two-run RBI double, scoring Guillen and freshman Adriel Figueroa-Brito to make it 3-0.
Jones scored on a wild pitch and Martinez scored on sophomore Leon Cereceres’ groundout.
Hernandez capped the inning as he grounded out but brought in sophomore Matt MacDonald to make it 6-0.
The Roughriders scored a run in the top of the fifth inning but Lorta responded with a lead-off home run in the bottom of the fifth. Lorta was 1 for 2 with an RBI, a run and two walks.
Martinez finished 1 for 2 with two RBIs and a run. Hernandez was 1 for 3 with an RBI and a run.
Myers pitched five innings, giving up one run on five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks on 85 pitches. Sophomore Quintin Hennesy threw the final two innings, giving up four hits with three strikeouts.
The Aztecs return to the West Campus Aztec Field on Tuesday for another non-conference doubleheader against Cochise. First pitch is at noon.
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