The Pima Community College baseball team won six of its last eight games to put itself in postseason contention, but the Aztecs finished one game out of the NJCAA Region I, Division II playoff tournament.
Pima upset No. 1 South Mountain 10-7 in Phoenix on Saturday to finish 28-25 overall and 20-20 in the ACCAC.
Unfortunately for the Aztecs, Glendale (32-24, 21-19) topped host Phoenix 11-4 on Saturday to secure the fourth and final playoff spot. Chandler-Gilbert (30-26, 21-19) also finished a game ahead of Pima.
The Aztecs’ streak of three straight playoff appearances was snapped.
In the victory over South Mountain (39-15, 30-9), freshman Adriel Figueroa-Brito put the Aztecs on the scoreboard in the first inning after he hit a two-run homer to left field that scored sophomore Leon Cereceres.
Freshman Cooper Kruk (Catalina Foothills) and sophomore Mike Jones (Canyon del Oro) hit RBI singles in the inning and freshman Aciel Guillen (Salpointe Catholic) hit a sacrifice fly to bring in sophomore Matt MacDonald as the Aztecs took a 5-0 lead.
The Cougars responded with five runs of their own in the bottom-half of the first inning, but Pima came right back with two runs in the second inning. Kruk drove in Cereceres and Figueroa-Brito had a sacrifice fly to make it 7-5.
The Cougars scored one in the third inning, but the Aztecs came back again in the fifth. Jones hit an RBI single with two outs to score MacDonald to put the score at 8-6.
The Aztecs added to the lead in the seventh inning. Freshman Damian Lorta (Desert View) went yard with a solo homer over the center field wall. MacDonald singled and was driven in by Jones’ RBI double to make it 10-6.
Kruk finished the game 2 for 4 with three RBIs and a run while Jones went 3 for 4 with three RBIs. Lorta was 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run. Figueroa-Brito had a single with two RBIs and two runs. MacDonald went 2 for 4 with two stolen bases and three runs. Cereceres scored two runs and drew three walks.
Sophomore Quintin Hennesy (5-1) got the win after he pitched five innings, giving up one run on one hit with three strikeouts and two walks on 72 pitches.
Freshman Hayden Green (Sabino) started the game and pitched four innings, giving up six runs (one earned) on six hits with two strikeouts and three walks on 89 pitches.
The Aztecs won at least 20 ACCAC conference games for the seventh straight season.
Ken Jacome concluded his eighth season as head coach and has a record of 293-133.
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