By Matt Hickman/Sierra Vista Herald
SCOTTSDALE — The Cochise College baseball team opened play in the Phoenix Area Juco Spring Classic Tournament on Wednesday by thumping Monroe College from New York, 7-1.
Zach Rodgers threw eight innings, allowing three hits and striking out eight to get the win. Ricardo Garcia was the lone Cochise batter with multiple hits, getting two to go with a run and an RBI.
“We’ve got to do a better job getting better at-bats,” Cochise head coach Todd Inglehart said. “But we pitched really well and played a clean game defensively, so I can’t complain too much.”
Today, the tournament road gets tougher as the Apaches take on Willison State from North Dakota at 11 a.m., and afterward face probably the toughest team they’ll see in the tournament, Indian Hills of Iowa, at 3 p.m.
Cochise returns to conference play Tuesday at home against Arizona Western for a noon doubleheader. Currently, the Apaches are 19-8 overall and 9-5 in conference, two games behind South Mountain Community College for first place.
Since being ranked No. 3 nationally on Feb. 27, the Apaches have gone 4-3 and fallen to a tie for No. 23.