STERLING, Colo. — The Cochise College baseball team defeated Western Nevada 4-2 Friday, advancing the Apaches to the Western District Championship game Saturday.
Cochise struck early, scoring two in the first inning. Western Nevada chipped away at the lead to tie it, but the Apaches scored two more in the bottom of the seventh and held on for the win.
Steven Naemark pitched the complete game for Cochise, allowing eight hits and just one walk. His lone strikeout of the game came against the last Western Nevada batter.
Saturday’s championship game begins at 11 a.m. Arizona time. It will be a rematch with Western Nevada, which beat Lamar in the Friday afternoon elimination game. The Western District Championship winner moves on to the NJCAA World Series in Grand Junction, Colo., next weekend.
Cochise’s only two World Series appearances have been in the late 1980s, with a seventh-place finish in 1988 and third-place finish in 1989.