No. 6 SMCC Baseball Sweeps ACCAC Series with Scottsdale CC

PHOENIX ---

The No. 6 South Mountain Community College baseball team (9-4, 3-1 ACCAC Division II) swept an ACCAC Division II series with Scottsdale CC on Feb. 10 and 11, winning 9-4 at SCC before posting a 6-1 home victory the following day. Freshman Liu Rodriguez Jr. hit his first home run of the season and recorded three RBIs, two runs, two walks, and a sac fly in the Feb. 10 road win. In the Feb. 11 home victory, sophomore Luke Hewes hit a two-run home run and finished with three RBIs, while sophomore Bobby Pierce Jr. had a pair of hits and sophomore Nuri Todd scored a pair of runs. 

Feb. 10 Recap

The Cougars scored five times in the first, led 7-0 after the top of the fourth, and posted an insurance run in the seventh to snuff out any hopes of an Artichoke comeback in the 9-4 victory. 

Rodriguez Jr. led off the first with a walk and moved to third on a single from Pierce Jr. Freshman Brandon Ornelas drove in Rodriguez Jr. and pushed Pierce Jr. to third with an RBI single, and sophomore Bryan Lorenz plated Pierce Jr. with another RBI single. Hewes drew a walk to load the bases and, with two outs, sophomore Ernie Alvarez cleared the bases with a three-run double. 

In the fourth inning, Rodriguez Jr. hit a two-run home run that brought in freshman Gennaro Brito and put SMCC ahead 7-0. He added a sac fly that scored Alvarez in the sixth to make it 8-2 Cougars. 

After SCC scored twice in its half of the sixth, freshman Gabe Coltman laced a two-out RBI double that brought in Hewes to conclude the game's scoring. 

Rodriguez Jr. finished 1 for 2 with three RBIs, two runs, two walks, and a sac fly. Hewes walked and scored twice, and Coltman was 2 for 4 with the RBI double. 

Freshman Denzel Montijo started the game for SMCC and went four innings with three hits, two runs, two walks, and two strikeouts.  Freshman Sergio Garcia (1-1) got two outs in the fifth, including a strikeout, to earn his first win of the season.

Sophomore Quinn Robertson recorded two outs over the fifth and sixth, and freshman Caden Robinett, freshman Izaiah Moraga, and sophomore Blake Bell also saw time in relief. 

Feb. 11 Recap 

Sophomore Braeden McCarroll (2-1) tossed six strong innings with seven strikeouts to help lift the Cougars to a 6-1 victory at the SMCC Baseball Field. He allowed two hits, one earned run, and one walk to record his second win of the season. 

Sophomore Diego Garcia allowed one hit over two innings of relief, and sophomore Sam Yeager tossed the ninth inning and added a strikeout. 

Offensively, Hewes got things started with a two-run home run in the second that scored Coltman. After the Fighting Artichokes scored in the top of the third, Todd came home on a wild pitch in the bottom of the frame to restore the two-run lead. 

Hewes hit a sac fly to score Pierce Jr. in the fifth, and sophomore Gavin Short produced an RBI single later in the frame that brought in Lorenz. 

Pierce Jr. concluded the game's scoring with an RBI single to right in the sixth that brought in Todd. Pierce Jr. went 2 for 4 with a run, an RBI, and a stolen base, while Todd safely reached base three times and scored twice. Hewes' home run was his first as a Cougar.