Yuma Catholic baseball falls in championship rematch
A poor third inning costs Yuma Catholic in a rematch of last year's state championship game against Valley Christian.
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Brock Jackson hit a monster home run to lead the Valley Christian Trojans to a 7-1 victory over the Yuma Catholic Shamrocks on Monday in a rematch of last year's AIA 3A State Championship Game.
No. 1 Valley Christian remains undefeated at 13-0. No. 2 Yuma Catholic falls to 12-2, both losses this season coming against the Knights.
The game was scoreless heading into the third inning. In the top of the third with the bases loaded, Leonel Avelar walked back-to-back batters to give Valley Christian a 2-0 lead. The Trojans would go on to score six runs in the inning to take a 6-0. In the fourth, Jackson would crush a home run off the roof of the bulding beyond the right field fence to make it 7-0. In the bottom of the inning, Erick Topete would steal home on a passed ball to get the Shamrocks on the board. However, it was not enough to start a rally and Valley Christian would take home the 7-1 win.
"We gotta be able to put some more offense on the floor," Yuma Catholic head coach Judd Thrower said after the game. "The last three games we played these guys, we only scored one run in the game. You can't win only scoring one run."
For Yuma Catholic, Avelar pitched three innings, giving up three hits and six earned runs.
Ivan Guzman pitched the final four innings surrendering five hits and one earned run.
Topete went 1 for 3 and scored the Shamrocks lone run.
As a team, Yuma Catholic only mustered up three hits and struck out a combined 14 times.
"We have to eliminate the strikeouts," Thrower said. "We can't have as many strikeouts as we had tonight. We had 14 strikeouts in seven innings. That's two an inning."
For Valley Christian, Cameron Bergloff pitched five innings, giving up the run and striking out 10. This was the first earned run all season the junior has surrendered.
Jackson went 2 for 3 with the home run.
The Shamrocks will wrap up the regular season with home games against Tonopah Valley and Chino Valley.
