2020 Season Provides Promising Potential for SMCC Baseball
In the middle of a stretch where it won 17 of 19 games, the Corona Virus was about the only thing that could stop the 2020 South Mountain Community College Baseball team. Despite the cancelation of the season, the Cougars certainly enjoyed their time on the diamond this spring.
The season started with a bang, as head coach Todd Eastin recorded the 600th win of his career when SMCC opened the season with a doubleheader sweep of Salt Lake Community College. The 2020 campaign marked the 17th season at the helm for Eastin, and the milestone set the stage for the rest of the abridged year.
In early February, the team got the opportunity to play at Sloan Park in Mesa, the Spring Training home of the Chicago Cubs. The Cougars squared off against four opponents over three days and took home a 7-4 victory over Phoenix College at the facility.
The Cougars then rattled off non-conference victories over PC and Chandler-Gilbert Community College before splitting a doubleheader with Yavapai College. The 4-3 loss to the Roughriders on Feb. 15 would be SMCC's only defeat until Mar. 7, a stretch where they won 12-straight games.
South Mountain Community College won Arizona Community College Athletic Conference two-game series with Pima Community College, Phoenix College, Paradise Valley Community College, CGCC and Eastern Arizona during the stretch. SMCC also recorded a win over the Grand Canyon University club team and won the first game of a doubleheader at Cochise College on Mar. 7.
A wild, 10-9 loss to the Apaches in the nightcap snapped the winning streak. Still, the Cougars responded by sweeping a home doubleheader with Western Nebraska Community College on Mar. 10 in what would be the season finale.
Individually, the Cougars had strong performances from a host of student-athletes both at the plate and on the mound.
Freshman Holden Breeze and sophomore Ricky Munoz appeared in a team-high 27 games. Breeze batted .360 with a team-high 32 runs scored, adding three doubles, two home runs and 11 RBIs. Munoz had a team-high three home runs and added 21 RBIs, 15 runs and four doubles for the year.
Sophomore Justin Quinn led the Cougars with 24 RBIs and added 24 runs scored, five doubles, a triple and a home run for the year. He had a season-high three RBIs in two different games and two doubles in a win over Phoenix College on Feb. 7 at Sloan Park.
Freshman Dustin Bermudez enjoyed a strong two-way campaign, excelling at the plate and on the mound. Offensively, he batted .333 with eight doubles, two home runs, two triples, 11 RBIs and 17 runs scored. In 27 innings as a pitcher, Bermudez went 3-1 with a 2.67 ERA and 21 strikeouts.
Sophomore Efrain Cervantes batted .305 with seven doubles, six stolen bases, two triples, one home run, 19 RBIs and 22 runs scored. Sophomore JD Wadleigh led the Cougars with nine stolen bases and added 13 RBIs, 15 runs, two doubles and a triple.
Freshman Davis Heller captured an ACCAC Division I Player of the Week award and batted a robust .531 in 15 games in 2020. He collected seven doubles, 15 RBIs and 11 runs and had a season-high four hits and two doubles in a win over Pima CC on Feb. 18.
Sophomore Brodie Marino appeared in 18 games and had four doubles and nine RBIs. Freshman Jake Haze appeared in 15 games, totaling five doubles and 11 RBIs, while fellow rookie Easton Erwin racked up two doubles, three triples, two home runs and 13 RBIs in just nine games.
On the mound, sophomore Brayden Brooks finished 6-1 with a 2.00 ERA and 41 strikeouts in 36 innings of work. He earned ACCAC Division I Pitcher of the Week honors on Mar. 10 after tossing a seven-inning shutout over Cochise College. He allowed only four hits and struck out nine in a Mar. 7 win.
Fellow sophomore Jake Sansing went 3-0 with a 2.03 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 31 innings of work. He scattered two hits and had five strikeouts in six innings of scoreless baseball in the season finale against Western Nebraska.
A third sophomore, Jack Radford, went 1-0 in 21.1 innings with a 2.95 ERA and 27 strikeouts. Freshman Parker Wakelyn led SMCC with two saves, while Carter Krosky and Shawn Triplett each had one.
As a team, SMCC owned a 3.61 ERA and 1.33 WHIP in 227 innings of work.
The Cougars will return to the diamond sometime soon. Based on the results they produced in an abridged 2020 season, the future certainly looks bright.