Photo: 10 Dominique Cruises slides into 2 bases for the first of his two doubles of the day
Adrian Sanderford and Luke Tobin combined for nine hits to split eight RBIs between them, leading the Prescott Badgers to a 14-5 victory with the Flagstaff Eagles.
Thunderford, who was perfect at the plate with five hits, also scored a victory that pitched five innings and two-thirds of innings. Matt Hepperle closed the game with two outs in six innings.
Photo: Luke Tobin hits four RBIs against Flagstaff, leading the team with 28 hits in the season, hitting .560
Chasing 1-0, the Badgers took their first lead at the bottom of their first innings. Drag bunt single by Luke Martin started things with a delayed error throw and put him on 2 base and things went on. Martin said, “The first batsman, I have to ride and do something. We have a great lineup. We can swing it and I’m going to score every time I get. Luke Tobin singled to put the runner in the corner. The Thunderford and Colton champions each had RBI singles to give Prescott a 2-1 lead.
The Eagles regained the lead on a bass loaded by Luke Holt to score two. Thunderford got out of a limited loss jam, but Flagstaff led 3-2. Prescott gets an equalizer at the bottom of the inning.
Photo: Adrian Sanderford stands at 2 base after double
Thunderford came out and closed the Eagles, giving the Badgers momentum to accumulate at the third bottom. The Badgers scored seven runs to open the game, with Martin’s two RBI liners highlighted at the first baseline of the double. Thunderford knocked Martin with a double. Early in the innings, Dominique Cruz went 0-2 on the count and went for a walk to load the bases. A four-pitch walk followed by Jacob Patterson for the RBI. Ivan Schuster had an RBI single. When the dust settled, the badger sent 12 batters to the plate.
Cruz, who raised his batting average of .294 with three, said, “I’ve had no hits this season and couldn’t find it. I’ve worked a lot with coach Davis. He’s a big hit coach. Play.”
Flagstaff went 10-4 on the fourth sacrifice fly. Badgers had a great opportunity to add to the lead, but left a base-loaded base at the bottom of the innings.
After the Eagles ran in a pair of doubles by Canyon Corkman, Carpenter trimmed the lead 10-5 before Prescott kept the game out of reach forever.
Cruz appeared and the second game hit the ball on Center Fielders head. This time he scored two RBI singles by Tobin. Thunderford scored an error to throw by defeating the ball on the infield single, which scored for the Eagles, both of which hit the pitch to reach base.
The Badgers will move up to #4 in the 4A ranking this week, showing home games against road games at Bradshaw Mountain, Chrismon and Allagilbert North.
Prescott will face the Flagstaff Eagles today at 3:45pm.
Prescott Badgers 14, Flagstaff Eagles 5
Innings – 123 456 7 – rhe
Flagstaff 120 101 0 – 5 10 5
Prescott 217 004 x – 14 14 0
WP: Thunderford
LP: Carpenter
Grand Canyon Region Ranking
School – wl wl
Bradshaw Mountain 7-1 16-4
Prescott 7-1 12-4
Flagstaff 5-4 14-9
Lee Williams 5-4 8-10
Coconino 4-4 8-12
Mingus 3-6 8-13
Mohave 0-11 5-19
Scoreboard
Prescott 14, Flagstaff 5
Coconino 12, Bradshaw Mountain 1
Lee Williams 7, Mohave 3
River Valley 16, Chino Valley 6
Bagdad 18, Maryvale Prep 1
Ranking of 4A category
Top 10 WL
1 Monkey Point Catholic 17-0
2 Ara Queen Creek 18-2
3 Crismon 16-3
4 Prescott 12-4
5 Cactus Shadow 19-2
6 Yuma 14-5
7 Iron Woodridge 15-6
8 Bradshaw Mountain 16-4
9 Saguaro 11-9
10 Ala-Gilbert North 12-9
Bradshaw Mountain in Coconino
Ty Sevier and Corbin Derr each hit home runs as the Coconino Panthers took it 12-1, 12-1 in five innings at Flagstaff.
The Bears managed runs with only two hits. Coconino beat the 2-1 game on the fourth bottom by scoring five runs and replicating that fete to finish the game with 10 run rules on the fifth two outs.
Ezra Merrell pitched all five innings to win, not allowing the run he scored, and only got two hits on three strikeouts and one pair of walks. Dylan Lockwood pitched 3.1 innings and lost.
Gerson Jones has an RBI double and has acquired Isaiah Avila, who reached the only Bears running error.
Bradshaw Mountain fell in the 4A ranking after losing from #3 to #8. The Bears will now move the bats when they host Coconino tonight at 7pm.
The loss set gives the bear the same regional record as Prescott. The two teams will have another meeting for the Grand Canyon Region title.
Coconino Panthers 12, Bradshaw Mountain Bear 1
Innings – 123 45 – rhe
Bradshaw Mountain 000 10 – 1 2 1
Coconino 020 55 – 12 14 2
WP: Merrell
LP: Rockwood
HR: Sevier, Dale
AZ Compass Preparation at Trinity Christian
Conor Wallace scored two hits, including a double and two RBIs, in a 4-3 victory over Prescott Valley’s Dragon of AZ Compass Prep.
Josh Partin started on the hill and only allowed one hit in six innings. AZ Compass Prep scored their first two unfortunate runs to score an early lead. Partin strikes out 11 and also has an RBI single.
Ethan Brenner took the pitch at the seventh top and hit the side, but the Dragons scratched the run to tie the game together with three.
At the bottom of the innings, the Warriors rebounded to win from Dragon Harler Lorenzoluvalkaba. Preparation for the AZ compass drops to (7-2).
Henry Patterson had two hits for the Warriors who improved overall (8-1). Trinity Christian will be holding the Heritage Academy on Tuesday at 6pm.
Trinity Christain Warriors 4, AZ Compass Prep Dragons 3
Innings – 123 456 7 – rhe
AZ Compass Preparation 200 000 1 – 3 1 1
Trinity Christian 102 000 1 – 4 6 2
WP: Brenner
LP: Ruvalcaba
