Cougars Post Pair of Walk-Off Wins against Pima CC

PHOENIX --- 

The South Mountain Community College baseball team (31-14, 25-13 ACCAC) defeated Pima Community College 3-2 (8) and 10-9 (8) in an Arizona Community College Athletic Conference home doubleheader on Saturday, May 1. In the first game, SMCC rallied from a 2-0 deficit, and Andrew Lucas hit a walk-off RBI single in the eighth to score Holden Breeze to win 3-2. In the second game, Lucas hit a two-run home run in the seventh to tie the game, and Brice Martinez hit a walk-off, two-run home run in the eighth to defeat the Aztecs 10-9 in the 2021 home finale.

Game One

Trailing 2-0 after the first inning, SMCC clawed back into the contest with a run in the second and the sixth to push the game into extra innings and set up Lucas' heroics.

With the game in extra innings, both teams started the eighth with a runner on second base. Ryan Figueroa (2-0) recorded a pair of strikeouts and a groundout to keep the Aztecs off the scoreboard. Breeze started on second for SMCC in the eighth and scored on Lucas' one-out single to center field.

In the second, Martinez delivered a two-out RBI single to score Esteban Hernandez, and in the sixth, Dustin Bermudez hit a sacrifice fly that scored Lucas.

McKay Barney and Lucas each had two hits in the win, with Lucas collecting his third triple of the year.

Figueroa tossed the final two innings to earn his second win of the season. Trent Adams and Bermudez each threw two innings of hitless relief, and Nolan Livsey started the game and went two innings for the Cougars. The four pitchers limited the Aztecs to one hit and five walks over eight innings.

Game Two

The second game was a back-and-forth affair with the teams exchanging home runs throughout the eight innings.

Like the first game, the contest went to extra frames, and the teams started the frame with a runner on second. Pima CC brought that runner home but could not add an insurance run and took a 9-8 lead. Noah Bachman started the inning at second and walked home on Martinez's game-winning blast, his first home run of the season.

In the seventh, the Aztecs hit a two-out, three-run home run to take an 8-6 lead. Breeze led off the home half of the seventh with a single and scored on Lucas' two-run blast, his team-leading sixth home run of the year.

Pima CC jumped out to a 5-2 lead, but the Cougars fought back with a run in the fourth, two in the fifth and one in the sixth. Hernandez hit an RBI triple in the fourth, Martinez and Justin Quinn scored in the fifth, and Martinez had an RBI single in the sixth.

Martinez finished 2-for-4 with two runs, three RBIs and a walk to go with the home run, while Hernandez tied a season-high with three hits. Quinn and Barney each had two hits, and Barney scored a pair of runs and stole two bases. Paul Sachen also had two stolen bases and a sacrifice bunt. 

Drew Woody (2-1) earned his second win of the season with an inning of relief and two strikeouts. Shawn Triplett, Charlie Deeds, Derek Decolati and Ronan Kopp saw time on the hill for SMCC in the win.

The Cougars finished fourth in the ACCAC Division I standings with a 25-13 mark. They will travel to top-seeded Central Arizona for a three-team playoff that will also include either Eastern Arizona and Cochise College. Those two schools will play a single game to determine who advances to face SMCC in the first game on Thursday, May 6.

The winner of the Central Arizona regional will face the winner of the Pima CC regional, which features the host Aztecs, Arizona Western and Yavapai College, for a spot in the NJCAA Division I Junior College World Series.