By Matt Hickman/Sierra Vista Herald
PHOENIX — After Cochise pitcher Zach Rodgers recorded his 10th win of the season in the early game, the Apache baseball team was one win away from clinching the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference title.
But in the late game against eighth-place Paradise Valley Community College, the Apaches fell behind early and couldn’t complete the rally, falling 6-5 to drop to 28-8 in conference.
Meanwhile, the Central Arizona Vaqueros swept Eastern Arizona to pull within a game of Cochise for first place with two games to go. Fittingly, Central Arizona closes the regular season at Cochise on Saturday in a doubleheader starting at noon on the Douglas Campus.
“We had our chances,” Cochise head coach Todd Inglehart said. “We struggled to square the ball; it was not a very physical effort at the plate.”
The Apaches had five hits in the first game and six in the second. Austin Nelson had a three-run double as part of a six-run second that made the difference. Nelson’s two doubles accounted for all of Cochise’s extra-base hits.
The Apaches battled back from a 6-3 deficit to cut it to one and loaded the bases with one out in the eighth, but a strikeout and groundout stopped the rally short.
Admission is free to Saturday’s regular-season finale on the Douglas Campus.