Posted: Feb 04, 2026
Late Rally Fuels SMCC Baseball Comeback Victory over Central Arizona
Central Arizona College
4
#6 South Mountain Community College
8
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Central Arizona College | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 2 |
|
#6 South Mountain Community College | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | X | 8 | 9 | 2 |
PHOENIX ---
The South Mountain Community College baseball team (6-3) defeated Central Arizona College 8-4 in a non-conference contest at the SMCC Baseball Field on Tuesday, Feb. 3. Trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the sixth, the Cougars scored three runs in the frame and pushed across five more in the seventh to post the comeback victory. Three Cougars had two hits in the victory (Brandon Ornelas, Bryan Lorenz, and Jack Meissner), with Lorenz posting three RBIs and Meissner driving in two.
Sophomore Nuri Todd drew a walk to start the sixth and moved to second when a pitch hit sophomore Ernie Alvarez. A groundout moved the runners up 90 feet, and Ornelas drove in Todd with an RBI single. Lorenz followed that up with a single to score Alvarez, and Meissner delivered a two-out, RBI single to bring in Ornelas.
In the seventh, freshman Will Strand earned a free pass as a pinch hitter to start the frame, and his pinch runner, Gennaro Brito, scored on an error off the bat of Todd tie the game. Alvarez drove in Todd with a single to break the tie and, after freshman Liu Rodriguez Jr. laid down a sac bunt, Ornelas doubled to left to put two runners in scoring position.
Lorenz cleared the bases with a two-run triple to put SMCC ahead 7-4, and he later scored on another RBI single from Meissner. Lorenz finished 2 for 4 with three RBIs, a run, and a triple, while Ornelas was 2 for 4 with two runs, an RBI, and a double. Meissner was 2 for 4 with two RBIs, and Todd and Alvarez each scored twice.
While the offense was mounting the comeback, sophomore Braeden McCarroll (1-1) earned his first win of the season with four innings of hitless relief. He fanned six and walked one over the four frames to face just one over the minimum.
Sophomore Blake Bell tossed the ninth and fanned two. Freshman Denzel Montijo started the game and went 2.1 innings with three hits, two earned runs, one walk, and two strikeouts. Sophomore Sergio Garcia threw 1.2 innings of relief with one hit and two K's.
Central Arizona scored two runs in the first and third to lead 4-0 early.