Apaches take one of two at home against Arizona Western
DOUGLAS, Ariz. -- The Cochise College Baseball team was back at home on Thursday, April 20th after three consecutive road doubleheaders, including trips to Central Arizona, Yavapai, and Pima College. The Apaches finished an even 3-3 during their road stretch including an opening win at Central Arizona breaking the Vaquero's 28-game winning streak. Cochise welcomed the Matadors of Arizona Western College, which was originally slated for late February, but due to weather was rescheduled to April 20th. The Matadors visited Bo Hall Field having only won one out of their last four games and were looking to catch some momentum heading into post-season play.
Game 1: Cochise 10, AZ Western 1
Mathias LaCombe was the starting pitcher for Cochise in the first of two games Thursday afternoon. In what was possibly his final start at home for the Apaches, LaCombe was poised to make a lasting statement in front of several professional scouts who made the visit to Douglas. The Cochise offense had no trouble during Game 1, collecting 10 runs off of 11 hits en route to an easy 10-1 victory over AWC. Cochise scored first in the first inning but was answered by a run from the Matadors in the second. The Apaches pulled away for good in the fourth scoring five runs, led by a double from Gerardo Hernandez scoring one, and a Joel Lindahl single scoring three runs. Behind a comfortable lead, Lacombe cruised to complete the game allowing one run off of three hits striking out 15 and walking one. Hernandez, Lindahl, and Christian Olea each collected multiple hits in the Apache's win over Arizona Western.
Game 2: Cochise 8, AZ Western 12
It took all nine innings in Game 2 to decide the game as the Matadors came away late with a 12-8 win over Cochise. The game was tied at eight in the top of the ninth inning when Gabriel Perez hit a solo homerun giving AWC the lead. Ruben Villaescusa led all Apache hitters with six RBIs off of three hits including two doubles. Fernando Barreda was the starting pitcher for Cochise lasting four and a third innings, allowing six runs on nine hits, striking out three and walking one. Samir Rojas, Zak Elvy, Alex Figueroa, and Angel Ortiz each entered the game as relief. In total, the Cochise bats collected 12 hits in the game with Villaescusa, Hernandez, and Makai DeSoto each collecting multiple hits.
Up Next...
Cochise Baseball (33-19;17-17) hits the road for a doubleheader rematch with Arizona Western (28-15;21-13) on Tuesday, April 25th at noon, and will close out their regular season schedule at home on Saturday, April 29th hosting South Mountain Community College (40-12;24-10).