GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Zach Rodgers pitched his first game since the beginning of this month and remained undefeated this season as Cochise College cruised in a 10-3 victory over Spartanburg Methodist (S.C.) on Thursday in game 16 of the JUCO World Series.
The win advances the Apaches to game 18 against Central Alabama on Friday in a game that determines who will face Palm Beach State in the championship game Saturday.
“We’re ready to go,” said Frank Salas, who gave Cochise an early lead with a two-run home run in the first inning. “We’re just going to keep playing our game: taking care of the ball, playing defense, and our pitchers will help us. We just have to help them by being patient at the plate and hitting mistakes from other pitchers.”
Cochise extended its lead little by little Thursday against the Pioneers, whose errors proved costly despite outhitting the Apaches 14 to six.
Spartanburg cut the lead with a run in the second, and Cochise answered in the third as Tagg Duce walked, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout and came home on a groundout RBI by Esteban Bastidas. In the fifth, Jason Parks was hit by a pitched, advanced to second on a groundout and came home on a single by Duce. Spartanburg answered with another run in the bottom of the inning to make it 4-2 Cochise.
The Apaches added insurance in the seventh with three runs, two from sacrifice flies and another on a throwing error. Three more came in the ninth as Duce doubled to score Nate Hale, and two more came home on throwing errors.
Through nearly all of the playoffs, Rodgers has been nursing a back injury sustained earlier this season. In his first game since pitching a single inning May 4 against Yavapai College, Rodgers went 6 1/3 innings against Spartanburg, giving up 10 hits, a walk and striking out four before Kevin Dorantes came on in relief to go the last 2 2/3.
“I started getting a little tired, and coach saw that,” Rodgers said. “I just don’t think I had as much stamina as I did when I was throwing every day.”
In the late game Thursday, Palm Beach State routed Central Alabama, previously the only unbeaten team in the tournament, 13-4. With three teams now with one loss, Palm Beach State gets the bye into the championship game Saturday because the Panthers have played five games in the tournament while Cochise and Central Alabama have played four.
The elimination game between Cochise and Central Alabama begins at 7 p.m. MST (6 p.m. AZ time).
“I’m looking forward to another good game,” Rodgers said. “These teams are good at this point, but we’ll be fine. We have plenty of pitching left. We haven’t done anything the easy way all season. We just take it one day at a time, and it’s been working so far.”