COOLIDGE — The Cochise College baseball team swept Central Arizona this week in the semifinals of the NJCAA Region I Tournament, winning Thursday 3-1 and Friday 10-4.
Cochise moves on to the NJCAA Region I finals next week against the winner of the other semifinal matchup this weekend between South Mountain and Pima.
In Friday’s game, Central struck for two runs in the bottom of the first to take an early lead. Cochise scored one in the third after Darick Hall singled to right field and brought home Sean DeSoto. The Apaches took the lead in the fifth on a three-run home run to left field by Jake Luna, and they scored one more in the sixth as Francisco Silva came home on a passed ball.
Cochise’s momentum continued in the seventh as a single to left field by Zion Bell scored Nick Borowski from second, but Central responded in the bottom of the inning with a two-out RBI double and an RBI single to make it 6-4, and Josh Advocate came on in relief to get a fly out and end the inning. A bases-loaded walk, two wild pitches and an RBI single from Luna scored four more for Cochise in the eighth to put the Apaches up 10-4 and they held on for the win.
Xavier Altamirano started on the mound and earned the win for Cochise, going the first 6 2/3 and giving up four runs on six hits and a walk while striking out two.
Steve Naemark pitched the complete game for the win on Thursday. He struck out 10 batters and walked only one as the Cochise offense made the most of five hits.
The Apaches scored two runs in the second as Louis Boyd walked with the bases loaded and Bell came home on a passed ball. Boyd’s sacrifice fly scored Bell in the top of the fourth for an insurance run, while Central Arizona scored its lone run on a sacrifice fly in the fifth.
Whether the Apaches win or lose the best of three game series against Pima or South Mountain, they are guaranteed a spot in the Western District Tournament, because Region I sends two teams to this year’s districts as the host site.