Relief pitcher Kevin Dorantes gets a hug from Zach Rodgers on Friday night.
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — The Cochise College baseball team took home third place in the JUCO World Series on Friday night, falling to Central Alabama Community College in the semifinal matchup 14-13 in 11 innings.
Steven Naemark took the loss for the Apaches in the four hour, 35 minute game that sends Central Alabama to the championship against Palm Beach State.
“I’d said it would take a really good effort to beat us,” said Cochise head coach Todd Inglehart. “I knew we weren’t going to beat ourselves, that it would take someone to beat us. They swung the heck out of it. We did too, but it wasn’t enough.”
A six-run rally in the sixth gave the Apaches the lead, and they pushed it to 13-9 heading into the bottom of the ninth for Central Alabama’s final at-bat. The Trojans struck for four runs on three hits, a couple of walks and a wild pitch to send it into extras, and with runners on first and second in the bottom of the 11th, a single dropped into left-center to seal it for Central Alabama.
“That was a great baseball game,” Inglehart said. “They fought and fought and fought. These two teams are very similar, and it just came down to 11 innings. Great effort by both clubs.”
Xavier Altamirano started on the mound for Cochise, went 3 2/3 and gave up four runs on five hits and three walks while striking out three, before Kevin Dorantes came on for three, giving up five runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
Jacob Potts pitched the next 1 2/3, allowing four runs on five hits, six walks and striking out two. As Potts ran into trouble in the ninth, Naemark came on with a one-run lead, but a fly ball went deep enough to center to score the runner on third to tie it.
“I was confident in being able to get my outs,” Naemark said. “They tied it up, and I just took it as a new ballgame from there.”
With two outs in the 11th, Central Alabama’s Ryan Raspino popped up to shallow left, and with both shortstop Austin Nelson and left fielder Jake Luna following the ball, it dropped and Raspino went to second on the error. Following an intentional walk, Ben Hall’s single brought in Raspino.
“Our bats were there tonight, we had good pitchers on the mound,” Naemark said. “We put up good competition. High-run games like that are tough for us. Today just wasn’t our day.”
Esteban Bastidas and Stephan Desgagne led Cochise at the plate, each finishing with four hits, and Frank Salas went 3 for 6 with three RBIs. Bastidas had two RBIs and three runs scored, while Desgagne kicked off the one-out scoring spree in the sixth with a solo home run to left field, one of his three RBIs in the game.
“I had a good game, but I’m just sad we lost,” Desgagne said. “I wanted us to win the ballgame.”
Cochise closes the season with a 52-19 record after winning its first Region I title and making its first World Series appearance since 1989.
“Pretty soon, it’s going to be a surreal experience, as I’ll look back on it,” Inglehart said. “It’ll take a couple of weeks for that to happen. It was an incredible run with these guys, and a pleasure to be around them for that long. Our goal was always one more day, for me, just one more day to be around them.”