DOUGLAS – For most of the middle part of the season, the outstanding work of the Cochise College pitching staff was able to work around the erratic fielding of the Apache infield.
But on Saturday, five errors proved to be too much to allow the Apaches to pull off a desperately needed sweep at home against Arizona Western.
A botched double play chance and two errors gave the Matadors six outs in the top of the eighth inning of the opener and allowed Western to score two unearned against Jacob Potts in relief in a 7-5 AWC win.
Cochise bounced back in the second game to win 5-4, taking the lead for good in the sixth on a single by Esteban Bastidas that scored Jesus Urbina.
Braulio Hernandez came on in relief in the seventh, and pitched through the eighth to salvage the split for the Apaches.
Trailing the fourth and final playoff spot by two games, the Apaches needed a sweep heading into their doubleheader Tuesday at home against South Mountain.