By Matt Hickman/Sierra Vista Herald
COOLIDGE — Zach Rodgers pitched an impressive complete game Tuesday afternoon, setting the tone for the biggest day for the Cochise College baseball team in more than two years.
Rodgers allowed six hits, two runs and struck out seven in Cochise’s 6-2 win over Central Arizona College in the opener, and in the second game, the Apaches staked starting pitcher Steven Naemark to an early 6-1 lead and held on for a 6-5 win to complete a sweep of the nation’s second-ranked team.
“We haven’t really been relevant the last couple of years,” Cochise head coach Todd Inglehart said. “I thought going into today that we were pretty confident we could play anybody. We happened to pick a good day to play well against a talented team.”
The Apaches rode to victory with a balanced hitting attack behind Rodgers in the early game, and in the second game, they held a 6-1 lead by the fourth inning. The Vaqueros then went to their bullpen and held Cochise scoreless the rest of the way, but Naemark kept retiring Central batters.
By the eighth inning, Naemark was beginning to tire, and the Vaqueros cut the lead to 6-3. Inglehart went to his bullpen, which surrendered two walks and a wild pitch to make it 6-4, and a sacrifice fly cut the lead to just 6-5. With the bases loaded, Inglehart brought in Kevin Dorantes, who was able to pitch out of the jam with no further damage and lured a double-play in the ninth to save it for Naemark.
“Rodgers really threw the ball well and we played great defense the entire day,” Inglehart said. “We had so much better at-bats today. We had been chasing pitches and getting ourselves out too many times and not extending pitch counts. Today, we were being difficult outs.”
With the win, Cochise improved to 12-4 on the season and 3-1 in conference play. On Saturday, they play their first conference game at home with a doubleheader against Glendale starting at noon. It’s the only home stop for the Apaches during a stretch that sees them play 12 of 14 on the road.