Cougar Baseball Continues Strong Play with Doubleheader Sweep of PC
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
South Mountain Community College | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
|
Phoenix College | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Phoenix College | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|
South Mountain Community College | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | X | 8 | 14 | 1 |
The South Mountain Community College baseball team won both ends of a doubleheader at Phoenix College on Feb. 21. The Cougars took 3-1 and 8-2 decisions over the Bears and have now won four straight and seven of their past eight games.
Game one featured an outstanding performance from Brayden Brooks. He tossed all seven innings to earn the win, fanning five and scattering four hits and an earned run. After the win, Brooks is 4-1 with a 2.74 ERA and 28 K's in 23 innings of work.
SMCC struck for three runs over the first two innings to give Brooks all the cushion he would need. In the first, Holden Breeze and Dustin Bermudez reached safely to start the inning. Both would then score on a sac fly from Justin Quinn.
In the second, Ricky Munoz started the inning with a single, moved to second on a ground out and then took third on a wild pitch. He would later score on a squeeze play off the bat of Brodie Marino.
Aside from a lead-off home run in the fourth, Brooks kept the Bears' bats quiet. He worked around a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the first and had four innings where he faced the minimum three batters.
The Cougars' offense came to life in the second game, totaling 14 hits in the 8-2 victory. Conversely, the SMCC pitching staff delivered a strong performance and held Phoenix College to three hits.
Bermudez finished 2 for 5 with a double, triple and a run scored. Breeze went 2 for 5 with two runs, while Davis Heller was 2 for 4 with two runs and an RBI. Munoz also had two hits with an RBI, and Quinn went 2 for 5 with two RBIs and a run scored.
SMCC again jumped out to a quick lead, scoring three times in the first. Breeze started things with a single and moved to second when Efrain Cervantes drew a walk. With two outs, Breeze scored on an RBI single from Heller, Cervantes scored on RBI single from Munoz and Heller scored on an RBI single from JD Wadleigh.
After Phoenix College cut the lead to 3-2, the Cougars tacked on two runs in the fourth. Quinn delivered a two-out, two-run single to plate Brendan Blakeman and Breeze. Quinn is second on the team with 18 RBIs on the season.
Bermudez started the sixth with a triple and quickly scored on a balk. Wadleigh added a sac fly in the inning, bringing home Quinn, and Heller scored on an error off the bat of Welch.
TJ Czyz earned the win by tossing 1.1 innings of relief. He, Derek Decolati, Michael Sears, Trey Goodrich and Shawn Triplett combined to no-hit the Bears over the final six innings of the game. Jack Radford started the game for SMCC, fanning six in three innings of work.
The Cougars return to action this week with games against Paradise Valley Community College and Chandler-Gilbert CC. SMCC will host PVCC on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 3 p.m., and then host Chandler-Gilbert CC on Friday, Feb. 28. The Cougars will play at PVCC on Feb. 25 and at Chandler-Gilbert CC on Feb. 29.