Cougar Baseball Wins Pair of One-Run Games with Cochise College

PHOENIX ---

The South Mountain Community College baseball team (26-9, 20-8 ACCAC) defeated Cochise College 2-1 and 4-3 on Tuesday, April 13, in an Arizona Community College Athletic Conference doubleheader. In the first game, SMCC scored the winning run in the bottom of the fifth, Justin Quinn and Dustin Bermudez had two hits and Shawn Triplett recorded his conference-leading 10th save of the season. In the second game, the Cougars scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh, and Ryan Figueroa tossed the final 2.2 innings to earn his first win of the season and give the Cougars the sweep over the Apaches to finish 7-1 on their homestand. 

Game One

The Cougars got strong pitching and timely hitting to defeat Cochise in game one. SMCC took a 1-0 lead after the first inning, but Cochise tied it in the third. The Cougars broke the deadlock with a single run in the bottom of the fifth to secure the victory. 

Holden Breeze scored Quinn with an RBI single in the first, and in the seventh, Quinn delivered a two-out RBI single to bring home Esteban Hernandez. 

Carter Krosky (5-2) picked up his fifth win of the season with 5.1 innings of three-hit baseball. He struck out two, walked one and allowed one unearned run. Trent Adams picked up a hold with a strikeout in the sixth, and Triplett threw the final 1.1 innings with two K's and a hit to record his 10th save of the year. 

Dustin Bermudez and Quinn had two hits and a triple apiece, and Quinn added a stolen base. 

Game Two

In the seventh, a pair of two-out RBIs gave the Cougars the lead in a 4-3 victory against the Apaches. 

A pitch hit Bermudez to start the SMCC seventh, and Braden Campbell smacked a double to put runners on second and third. Mason Skaugrud drew a walk to load the bases, and a pitch hit Brice Martinez to force Bermudez home. After the next two batters failed to bring in a run, McKay Barney drew a bases-loaded walk, and Andrew Lucas reached base after being hit by a pitch to push the Cougars ahead 4-3. 

Figueroa (1-0) picked up the win with 2.2 innings of relief work. He had four strikeouts and allowed one hit to record his first win of the season. 

Nolan Livsey also excelled on the mound for SMCC, giving the Cougars 4.0 innings of two-hit relief work with two strikeouts. Drew Woody tossed two innings with two strikeouts, three walks and one earned run, and Matt Bohnert also saw time on the bump. 

SMCC got on the board with a run in the fourth as Michael Quinones hit a sacrifice fly that scored McKay Barney. 

Martinez had two of the Cougars' four hits in the game, while Barney finished 1-for-2 with a run, RBI, stolen base and two walks. Bermudez drew three walks and scored a run, and Gillis Champagne also scored a run. 

SMCC hits the road for an ACCAC doubleheader at Arizona Western on Saturday, April 17. The first game starts at noon.