DOUGLAS — The Cochise College baseball team fell in both games of its regular-season finale against Central Arizona on Saturday, 1-0 and 12-5.
It was the first time Cochise had been on the losing end of a sweep this season, and it put the Apaches behind Central for the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference title and into the second seed for the NJCAA Region I tournament.
The NJCAA Region I tournament semifinals will be held May 2-4. No. 2 Cochise faces No. 3 Yavapai in a best-of-three series at the Douglas Campus with games at 2 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and noon Saturday, if necessary. No. 1 Central hosts No. 4 South Mountain in a best-of-three semifinal series the same days.
Admission to playoff games is $5 for adults, $3 for students and free for children ages 12 and under. Semifinal winners square off in the NJCAA Region I finals May 9-11.
Against Central Arizona, Jacob Potts took the loss for Cochise in game one, going 5 1/3 innings and giving up three hits and three walks while striking out six. The lone run in the game was a home run in the sixth by Central’s Sean Hurley.
In game two, Central held the lead from the beginning. Frank Salas started on the mound and lasted the first two innings. Six Apaches came on in relief. At the plate, Salas went 3 for 4 and Austin Nelson went 2 for 5, including a three-run double in the seventh.
“The first game was a playoff game,” Cochise head coach Todd Inglehart told the Sierra Vista Herald. “The second game wasn’t a good baseball game and we ran out of pitching.”
The Region I winner heads to Colorado for the district championship against the Region 18 champion.