Aztecs Baseball drops opening game at West District Tournament to College of Southern Nevada

The Pima Community College baseball team (45-17) opened play at the NJCAA West District Tournament against the College of Southern Nevada (49-10) on Thursday at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix.

• The Aztecs were in a back-and-forth battle with the Coyotes but fell 7-5 in the end. The Aztecs will play in an elimination game on Friday.
• Sophomore Brant Kragel hit a lead-off triple in the 2^nd inning and tied the game at 1-1 when he scored on a passed ball. Sophomore David Shackelford drew a walk and sophomore Antonio Avila hit a double to put two runners on base. Sophomore Ruben Castro (Tucson Magnet HS) put Pima ahead 2-1 with a sacrifice-fly RBI to bring in Shackelford.
• The Coyotes went up 3-2 with two runs in the 4^th inning. Sophomore Caleb Herd (Cienega HS) put the Aztecs back up 4-3 when he hit a two-run home run to left field and brought in Castro, who reached on an error in the previous at-bat. The Coyotes countered with three runs in the bottom-half of the 6^th inning to go back up 6-4.
• The Aztecs cut into Southern Nevada's lead again in the 7^th inning when Kragel hit an RBI single to score Hennesy, who hit a double earlier in the inning.
• The Aztecs left 12 runners on base for the game. They left the bases loaded in the 4^th inning and stranded two runners in each the 8^th and 9^th innings.
• Herd finished the game going 1 for 3 with two RBIs and a run scored. Kragel went 3 for 4 with an RBI and a run while Hennesy was 2 for 5 with a run. Shackelford closed it out going 1 for 3 with a run. Castro was 0 for 2 with an RBI and a run. Sophomore Elijah Reeves (Marana HS) was 2 for 4.
• Sophomore Diego Alvarez (Sahuarita HS) took the loss as he pitched five and two-third innings, giving up six runs (five earned) on eight hits with four strikeouts and one walk on 95 pitches.

PCC   0 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 0   5   11   3
CSN   1 0 0 2 0 3 1 0 x   7   11   1

L – Alvarez (8-2). 2B: Hennesy, Avila. 3B: Kragel. HR: Herd. SB: Herd.

The Aztecs will play the loser of the South Mountain Community College/Southeast Community College on Friday. The elimination game will be at 9:00 a.m. at South Mountain CC.