Cochise Baseball drops two at home to defending JUCO World Series champs

DOUGLAS, Ariz. -- In a rematch of the ACCAC Regional Championship series from a year ago, the Cochise College Baseball team welcomed Central Arizona College for the conference opener in a windy, sub-50-degree doubleheader. The Vaqueros visited Bo Hall Field yesterday as the 2022 JUCO World Series Champions but were off to a slow start in the early 2023 season with losses to Southern Nevada and El Paso Community College. The Apaches were coming off a four-game series with Utah State-Eastern winning three of the four.

In game 1 yesterday, the Apaches fell behind CAC early and couldn't come back in a 1-0 loss. In what was considered a pitchers duel, there was a total of twenty strike-outs with CAC striking out seven and Cochise striking out 13. Fernando Barreda was the starting pitcher for the Apaches going five innings on the mound, allowing one run on five hits and striking out 11. Alex Figueroa came out of the bullpen in relief throwing one and two-thirds innings. Jacob Wiltshire, Eduarny Martinez, and Makai DeSoto each collected one hit to lead the Apaches. 

In game 2, CAC took the lead early in the first off of a single, giving the Vaqueros an early 1-0 lead over starting pitcher Evan Shaw. The lefty lasted five and two-thirds innings, allowing four hits and two runs while striking out nine and walking one. Mathias LaCombe, Samir Rojas, and Angel Ortiz each contributed in relief for the Apaches. Carlos Vega, Martinez, and Yilber Toro each collected one hit to lead the Apaches, but was not enough as Central Arizona came away with the 4-1 win off of nine hits. 

Cochise Baseball (9-4;0-2) hosts Yavapai College (3-5;0-2) on Saturday, February 18th for an afternoon double-header beginning at noon.