SMCC Baseball Wins Region I Division II Championship

PHOENIX ---

The South Mountain Community College baseball team (45-16) defeated Pima CC 9-1 (7 innings) on May 8 and 11-6 on May 9 to win the NJCAA Region I Division II Championship and advance to the West District Championships May 15-17 at SMCC. Luis Martin Romero, the ACCAC DII Pitcher of the Year, tossed a three-hit complete game, Bryan Lorenz and Marcus Romero had three hits apiece, and Drew Johnson had four RBIs in the game-one victory. In game two, Lorenz, named Regional MVP, had three more hits, including a two-run home run, and Christopher Mata tossed 3.2 innings of relief to lift the Cougars to the Regional Title. 

SMCC will face South Arkansas College in the NJCAA Division II Baseball West District Championships from May 15-17 at the SMCC Baseball Field. The Cougars and Stars will meet in a 2 p.m. game on May 15 and May 16, with a noon contest slated for May 17 if necessary. The winner of the West District Championships earns an automatic berth into the NJCAA Division II World Series May 24-31 at David Allen Memorial Ballpark in Enid, Okla. 

Game One Recap

The Cougars scored multiple runs in three of the first five innings, and Johnson's single in the seventh that scored Romero ended the game. SMCC finished with 14 hits in the game, with Bobby Pierce Jr., Raul Parada, and Johnson posting two hits each in addition to Lorenz and Romero's three-hit performances. 

Romero was outstanding on the mound for SMCC to improve to 9-2. He scattered three hits and two walks, allowed one unearned run, and fanned five over seven innings. 

Johnson and Nuri Todd collected RBI singles in the second, and Romero added a two-run single in the third. Johnson made it 5-1 in the frame with an RBI groundout to score Lorenz. 

Lorenz ripped an RBI single, Johnson added an RBI sacrifice fly in the fifth to extend the lead to 7-1, and SMCC added a run in the sixth to make it 8-1. Romero led off the seventh with a single and scored on Johnson's base hit into left center to conclude the contest. 

Lorenz finished 3 for 4 with three runs and an RBi, while Romero was 3 for 3 with two runs, two RBIs, and a walk. Pierce was 2 for 4 with a stolen base, Parada was 2 for 4 with two runs, and Johnson went 2 for 3 with a double and four RBIs to pace the Cougar offense. 

Game Two Recap

The Cougars led 5-0 early, but the Aztecs fought back to tie the game at 5-5 in the top of the fifth. SMCC responded immediately in their half of the inning with a two-run single from Gavin Short to take a 7-5 lead. After Pima CC cut the deficit to 7-6 in the seventh, SMCC got two-run singles from Todd and Joe Terranova in the bottom of the inning to pull away for the win and second-straight Region I Championship. 

Luke Jones opened the scoring with an RBI single in the first, and he came home on a two-run blast from Lorenz. SMCC increased its lead to 5-0 in the third on a two-run double from Johnson, which scored Terranova and Parada.

Pima CC plated two in the fourth and three in the fifth to tie the contest, but Mata got the Cougars out of the jam after entering in relief. In the bottom of the fifth, Todd hit a two-out, two-run single into right field to score Jones and Lorenz and give SMCC a 7-5 lead. 

The Aztecs scratched across one unearned run in the seventh to pull within one, but Short and Terranova roped two-run singles in the bottom of the seventh to put the game away for SMCC. 

Lorenz finished 3 for 5 with two runs and two RBIs to earn the Region I Division II Tournament MVP honors. The home run was his seventh of the season. 

Jones went 2 for 4 with two runs and three RBIs, while Parada was 3 for 5 with a run. Short was 2 for 4 with the two RBIs, and Todd added a run and a walk to his two RBIs. 

Mata improved to 2-0 on the year with 3.2 innings of relief work. He allowed four hits, one unearned run, and one walk to go with one strikeout. Lukas Geisler started the game for SMCC and went 4.1 innings with two hits, two earned runs, three walks, and a strikeout. Matt Elliot tossed the ninth for SMCC and fanned two, including the final out of the victory.