PHOENIX — Down to its last three outs, the Cochise College baseball team came up big in the ninth inning and defeated Trinidad State College of Colorado 14-8 on the first day of the Division I Western District Championship tournament.
Down 8-7 heading into the final inning, a notoriously non-offensive Cochise team scored seven runs behind solid hitting and a few Trojan missteps to stay in the tournament’s winners’ bracket.
Cochise moves on to today’s noon game to face tournament host South Mountain Community College, the Region I champions after sweeping the Apaches in the region tournament last weekend. South Mountain routed Western Nevada, 16-8 in seven innings, in game one of the district tournament earlier Thursday.
Western Nevada and Trinidad State fall to the losers’ bracket to try to climb their way to the championship game of the double-elimination tournament. If Cochise wins today, it will play in the championship on Saturday. If the Apaches lose, they play at 3 p.m. today for a chance at the title matchup.
Three Cochise errors, two of which led to Trinidad State runs, contributed to its one-run deficit after eight innings Thursday. Darick Hall started on the mound for the Apaches and gave up six runs, four of them earned, over 1 2/3 innings. David Estrada came on to pitch 4 1/3 and allowed an unearned run on seven hits while striking out four. Josh Advocate held Trinidad State for 1 2/3 before ace Xavier Altamirano pitched the scoreless ninth for the win.
In the top of the ninth inning, Sean DeSoto reached on an infield single and Jovan Ewusie came in to pinch run. Jayson Hicks hit a ground ball to the short stop that, instead of turning for a double play, was thrown past the second baseman, allowing Ewusie to score all the way from first to tie the game.
From there, the flood gates opened.
Zion Bell hit a triple to score Hicks, Louis Boyd was intentionally walked, and
In the top of the third, the Apaches tacked on three more as DeSoto doubled in Luna, and Hicks hit a two-run homer to left field. Again, Trinidad State responded, this time taking the lead with four runs.
Borowski tied the game with a solo home run to right field in the top of the seventh, but again, Trinidad State scored one in the bottom of the seventh on an infield error to regain the lead, 8-7.
A live game cast of today’s matchup against South Mountain is accessible at www.goapaches.com. For a live audio cast of each Western District Tournament game, visit client.stretchinternet.com/client/scc.portal.