By Matt Hickman/Sierra Vista Herald
PHOENIX — The Cochise College baseball team fell behind 5-0 in both of its Phoenix Area Juco Spring Classic Tournament games at Phoenix College on Thursday, but came back to win both by a single run.
In the opener against Williston State from North Dakota, four Apache errors dug a 5-0 hole. By the seventh inning, Cochise got going, scoring twice, three more in the eighth to tie and got one in the ninth on an RBI single by Gerardo Arzaga, scoring Zach Rodgers, to win it 6-5.
Kevin Dorantes struck out the side in the top of the ninth to earn the win in his one inning of work. Roy Aguirre went the first six, allowing six runs, none of them earned.
Arzaga had three hits and Tagg Duce and Jason Parks had two apiece with each getting two RBIs.
In the second game against Indian Hills from Iowa, Apache pitchers allowed 17 hits, and again Cochise fell behind 5-0. This time, the Apaches began their rally in the fourth, scoring three times, and then putting up a four-spot in the fifth to take the lead. They put up two more in the seventh to go ahead 9-5, but held on in the final two innings, as Dorantes went the final 3 1/3 to get the save to match his earlier win.
Steven Naemark struggled in 5 2/3, allowing 10 hits and five runs, but got the win.
“Naemark got it done, even though he didn’t have his best stuff,” Cochise head coach Todd Inglehart said. “I thought we did a very good job.”
Frank Salas, Jake Luna and Austin Nelson all had two hits and Nelson added three RBIs.
Today at 11 a.m., the Apaches resume tournament play against Northeastern from Colorado and at 3 p.m. take on nationally ranked New Mexico Junior College.