Steven Naemark’s teammates rush the field to celebrate Cochise’s win over Connors State on Tuesday.
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — The Cochise College baseball team beat Connors State 3-1 Tuesday in game 11 of the JUCO World Series to eliminate the Cowboys and stay alive for another day in the tournament bracket.
Freshman left-hander Steven Naemark pitched the complete game for Cochise, giving up eight hits and a walk while striking out seven. The lone run for the Cowboys came off a solo home run by Yariel Gonzalez in the fourth.
“He really should have had a shut out,” said Cochise head coach Todd Inglehart. “Horrible pitch call by me. Had him throw an inner-half fastball to a great fastball hitter. But just a fantastic job. He’s tough. He’s not scared to be in this thing, and our guys have confidence in him.”
Naemark, who went 10-3 this season before his first World Series start, didn’t let his coach take all the credit for the home run over the left field wall.
“Coach says it was a bad call, but I missed my spot as well,” he said. “I left a cheese ball, and the guy did a good job of capitalizing on that mistake.”
The Apaches scored in their first at-bat. With two outs, Nate Hale on second and Ty Bess on first, Esteban Bastidas singled to left to score Hale. Cochise scored again in the second when Jason Parks was hit by a pitch, went to second on a groundout by Hale, and scored on a single by Tagg Duce to make it 2-0.
Cochise scored another insurance run in the seventh after loading the bases for Frank Salas, who hit a ground ball between first and second that first baseman Korey Keith threw low to home plate, scoring Stephan Desgagne.
Cochise sophomore Stephan Desgagne slides safely into home in the seventh inning against Connors State at Suplizio Field on Tuesday. Cochise won 3-1 to eliminate the Cowboys and advance to game 14 of the JUCO World Series.
Cochise’s 50th win of the season came just like most of the others: The Apaches were outhit, eight to five, but committed no errors to Connors State’s two. Bastidas went 2 for 4, and Hale reached twice on walks and stole a base.
“We’ve been a pitching and defensive club the entire year,” Inglehart said. “To get this far, to win 50 games, you have to be able to catch it, you have to be able to pitch. There are some tremendous offensive teams in this thing. That’s not who we are. Obviously, I wish we’d score more runs, but I guess we’re fun to watch.”
The win advances Cochise to game 14 against the loser of the Spartanburg Methodist-Neosho game to be played Tuesday night. Game 14 begins at 2 p.m. AZ time Wednesday. If it’s Neosho, it will be a rematch of the Sunday night game that the Panthers won 2-1 to send the Apaches to the losers bracket.
“Once you get in the losers bracket, the motto becomes one more day,” Inglehart said. “It’s been incredible to coach these guys. They’re a special group. They’re good teammates to each other. If we go down, we’ll go down with a fight and courage involved.”