No. 6 SMCC Baseball Splits Doubleheader at Arizona Western

PHOENIX ---

The No. 6 South Mountain Community College baseball team (3-3) split a non-conference doubleheader with Arizona Western College on Tuesday, Jan. 27 in Yuma, winning game one 5-0 (seven innings) before falling 10-7 (seven innings) in game two. In the game-one victory, Blake Bell, Sam Yeager, and Caden Robinett teamed up to blank the Matador offense while Bryan Lorenz drove in two with a stolen base and Aidan Murphy had an RBI and a double. In game two, Matthew McGovern hit his first home run of the season and Jack Meissner had two hits and three RBIs in defeat. 

Game One Recap

The Cougars struck for five runs over the first two innings and got some solid pitching from Bell, Yeager, and Robinett to shutout the Matadors. 

Bell started the game and went two innings with one strikeout and two walks. Yeager picked up the win with 2.2 innings of relief with two hits and three walks, and Robinett tossed the final 2.1 innings with two hits and one strikeout. 

Offensively, Bobby Pierce Jr. started the game with a lead-off single and moved to third on a single from Brandon Ornelas. Lorenz drove in Pierce Jr. with a sac fly and Murphy doubled SMCC's advantage with a two-out RBI double to plate Ornelas. Liu Rodriguez Jr. recorded the second two-out RBI of the frame with a single that scored Murphy and put SMCC ahead 3-0. 

In the second, a pitch hit Ernie Alvarez to start the frame and he moved to second on another single from Pierce Jr. After Ornelas successfully executed a sac bunt, Lorenz recorded his second RBI of the game with a single that scored Alvarez. 

Pierce Jr. went 3 for 4 with two runs and a stolen base, and Ornelas and Nathan Bayus also had stolen bases. 

Game Two Recap 

The Matadors struck early in game two, scoring five times in the bottom of the first. SMCC rallied to make it 5-4 in the top of the third and eventually tied it at 7-7 before AWC scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to seal the victory. 

Ornelas led off the third by reaching on an error and moved up 90 feet after a pitch hit Lorenz. Jaden Leon drew a walk to load the bases with no outs, and Meissner delivered a two-run single. After Derek Montijo laid down a sac bunt, Rodriguez Jr. picked up an RBI by bringing in Leon with a groundout. Meissner later scored on an error to make it 5-4 Matadors. 

After AWC got a run in its half of the third, SMCC got one back in the fourth when Meissner picked up his third RBI with a groundout that scored Pierce Jr. 

The Matadors answered that run with one in the bottom of the fourth before McGovern blasted a solo home run in the fifth. Gavin Short then recorded a pinch-hit double and he scored on a two-out, RBI single from Ornelas to tie the game at 7-7. 

However, Arizona Western scored three runs in the next half inning to split the twin bill. 

Izaiah Moraga started the game for SMCC and allowed two hits, four runs, and five walks. Diego Rodriguez tossed 2.1 innings with three hits, one run, and one strikeout. Sergio Garcia took the loss and went 1.1 innings with four hits, five runs, two walks, and two strikeouts. Grant Young tossed the final 1.2 innings with one walk.