SMCC Baseball Splits with Central Arizona, Sweeps Yavapai College

PHOENIX ---

The South Mountain Community College baseball team (16-4, 4-2 ACCAC) split an ACCAC home doubleheader with Central Arizona on Feb. 22, winning the first game 5-1 (7 innings) before falling 9-8 in the second game. Three days later, the Cougars swept an ACCAC home doubleheader from Yavapai College with 3-2 (7) and 22-7 (7) victories over the Roughriders. 

Central Arizona Game One 

The Cougars led wire-to-wire to defeat the Vaqueros in the opening game of the twinbill. Sophomore Raul Garayzar tossed six innings with eight hits, one unearned run, a walk and seven strikeouts to hold the Central Arizona bats at bay. Sophomore Matthew Martinez struck out the side in the seventh to seal the victory. 

Offensively, sophomore Jayden Smith hit the first pitch in the bottom of the first out of the park for his second home run of the season. From there, SMCC scored two runs in the third and two in the fifth to post the 5-1 victory. 

Freshman Sam Christiansen led the Cougars with two base hits and added an RBI. Sophomore Core Jackson hit a double and run, and sophomore Kenneth Jimenez walked three times and had an RBI base hit in the win. 

Freshman Dominic Chacon recorded a hit and run, and freshman Karsen Waslefsky was 1-for-2 with an RBI, a sac bunt and a sac fly. 

Central Arizona Game Two

In a back-and-forth affair, the Vaqueros took advantage of two SMCC errors in the eighth inning to post the 9-8 comeback victory. SMCC led 4-2 after one inning and tied the game at 5-5 in the third. A run in the sixth and two in the seventh put SMCC ahead 8-5 before Central Arizona rallied in the eighth. 

Chacon finished 2-for-4 with two runs, two RBIs, a double, and a home run, and sophomore Connor Schneider hit a two-run home run in the seventh and went 1-for-4 with two runs, two RBIs and a walk. 

Waslefsky was 3-for-5 with a run, an RBI and three doubles, and Smith added two hits, including a double and a walk. Jimenez added a double, and Jackson roped a triple and scored a run. Sophomore Carter Richey finished 1-for-4 with a run and two RBIs. 

Jacob Beltran started the game for SMCC and went 5.2 innings with seven hits, five earned runs, five walks and four strikeouts. Freshman Brandon Koble tossed 1.1 innings of relief with two earned runs, and freshman Alex Urias-Calvillo went the final 2.0 innings with one earned run and a strikeout. 

Yavapai College Game One

Sophomore Jaxon Jelkin tossed a four-hit complete game with 10 strikeouts to help lead SMCC to a 3-2 victory over the Roughriders. SMCC tied the game at 1-1 in the second and took a 3-1 lead after three innings. Yavapai added a run in the fourth, but Jelkin put up zeroes the rest of the way to post his third win of the year. 

Offensively, Jackson and Jimenez had two hits apiece to lead SMCC. Jimenez had a pair of RBIs and a double, while Jackson scored a run. Freshman Jaden Miranda and Christiansen collected doubles, with Christiansen recording an RBI. 

Yavapai College Game Two

The Cougar offense erupted for 22 runs and 18 hits to sweep the doubleheader. SMCC scored a run in every inning, posting multiple runs in four frames and including a nine-run fifth inning. 

Smith and Jimenez went deep in the victory. Smith finished 2-for-2 with two runs, four RBIs, a walk, and a double, while Jimenez was 3-for-5 with three runs, three RBIs, and a double. 

Waslefsky had three singles and added two runs, three RBIs, and a walk. Chacon, Miranda, and Christiansen all had two hits apiece. Chacon scored four runs and added an RBI and a double, while Miranda had two runs and two RBIs. Christiansen posted a double, two runs, two RBIs and a walk. 

Schneider went 1-for-3 with two runs, two RBIs, a walk, and a sac fly, and Jackson posted a double, a run, an RBI and two walks. Freshman Evan VanderValk recorded his first career hit, run and two RBIs in the win, and freshman Zac Chapman had his first career hit and run. 

Sophomore Josaiah Estrella earned the win with 3.2 innings of scoreless relief. He fanned five after taking over during the top of the first for starter Nikolas Miller. Urias-Calvillo went 2.0 innings with one hit and two Ks, and freshman Aeneas Clark tossed the seventh and fanned a pair.