Photo: 10 Dominic Cruz slides into second base for the first of his two doubles on the day
Adrian Sanderford and Luke Tobin combined for nine hits and split eight RBIs between them to lead the Prescott Badgers to a 14-5 win over the Flagstaff Eagles.
Sanderford, who was perfect at the plate with five hits, also picked up the win tossing five and two thirds innings. Matt Hepperle came into pitch with two outs in the sixth inning and closing out the game.
Photo: Luke Tobin had four hits with four RBIs against Flagstaff, and leads the team with 28 hits on the season and is batting .560
Trailing 1-0, the Badgers took their first lead in the bottom of the first inning. A drag bunt single by Luke Martin started things off with and with a late errant throw, put him at second base to get things going. Martin said, “First batter, I’ve got to get on and get something going. We have a great lineup. We can swing it and I feel like every time I get on I’m going to score. Everybody is hitting and we’re just putting it all together.” Luke Tobin singled to put runners at the corners. Sanderford and Colton Champion each had RBI singles to give Prescott a 2-1 lead.
The Eagles would regain the lead on a bases loaded single by Luke Holt, scoring two. Sanderford worked his way out of the jam with limited damage, but Flagstaff now led 3-2. Prescott would get the equalizer in the bottom of the inning.
Photo: Adrian Sanderford stands at second base after a double
Sanderford came out and shut the Eagles down, giving the Badgers some momentum that they would build on in the bottom of the third. The Badgers would score seven runs to break the game open, highlighted by Martin’s two RBI liner down the first baseline for a double. Sanderford knocked in Martin with a double. Earlier in the inning, Dominic Cruz was down 0-2 in the count and worked a walk to load the bases. A four pitch walk followed to Jacob Patterson for an RBI. Ivan Schuster had an RBI single. When the dust settled, the Badgers had sent 12 batters to the plate.
Cruz, who raised his batting average to .294 by going three for three, said, “I came out this season not hitting at all, couldn’t find it. I have been working a lot with Coach Davis, and he has helped me out a lot. He is a great hitting coach and I’ve got to thank him for that. One of the things that has made a difference is tipping my bat forward. I have been really been working on that, taking a lot of swings. Finally got my opportunity today and put them into play.”
Flagstaff managed a run on a sacrifice fly in the fourth to make it 10-4. The Badgers had a golden opportunity to add to their lead but left the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning.
After a run by the Eagles on a pair of doubles by Canyon Korkman and Will Carpenter trimmed the lead to 10-5, Prescott would put the game out of reach for good.
Cruz came up and for the second time in the game hit a ball over the centerfielders head for a double. This time though he would score on a two RBI single by Tobin. Sanderford beat out a ball for an infield single and a throwing error by the Eagles scored Schuster and Martin who were both hit by a pitch to reach base.
The Badgers moved up in the 4A rankings to #4 this week and have three top ten opponents coming up with home games versus Bradshaw Mountain, Crismon, and a road game at ALA-Gilbert North.
Prescott will face the Eagles in Flagstaff today at 3:45 pm.
PRESCOTT BADGERS 14, FLAGSTAFF EAGLES 5
Innings- 123 456 7 – R H E
Flagstaff 120 101 0 – 5 10 5
Prescott 217 004 x – 14 14 0
WP:Sanderford
LP:Carpenter
GRAND CANYON REGION STANDINGS
School- W-L W-L
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
4A DIVISION RANKINGS
TOP 10 W-L
1 Salpointe Catholic 17-0
2 ALA-Queen Creek 18-2
3 Crismon 16-3
4 Prescott 12-4
5 Cactus Shadows 19-2
6 Yuma 14-5
7 Ironwood Ridge 15-6
8 Bradshaw Mountain 16-4
9 Saguaro 11-9
10 ALA-Gilbert North 12-9
Bradshaw Mountain at Coconino
Ty Sevier and Corbin Derr each hit a home run as the Coconino Panthers took it to the Bradshaw Mountain Bears 12-1 in five innings at Flagstaff.
The Bears only managed a run on two hits. Coconino broke open a 2-1 game in the bottom of the fourth by scoring five runs and duplicating that fete to end the game on the ten run rule with two outs in the fifth.
Ezra Merrell got the win throwing all five innings and not allowing an earned run, yielding just two hits with three strikeouts and a pair of walks. Dylan Lockwood threw 3.1 innings and took the loss.
Garison Jones had an RBI double, scoring Isaiah Avila who had reached on an error for the only Bears run.
Bradshaw Mountain dropped in the 4A rankings after the loss from #3 to #8. The Bears will look to get their bats going when they host Coconino on tonight at 7 pm.
The loss sets gives the Bears the same region record with Prescott. The two teams have one more meeting that could clearly be for the Grand Canyon Region title.
COCONINO PANTHERS 12, BRADSHAW MOUNTAIN BEARS 1
Innings- 123 45 – R H E
Bradshaw Mountain 000 10 – 1 2 1
Coconino 020 55 – 12 14 2
WP:Merrell
LP:Lockwood
HR:Sevier, Derr
AZ Compass Prep at Trinity Christian
Connor Wallace had two hits, including a double and two RBIs to lead the Trinity Christian Warriors to a 4-3 win over the Dragons of AZ Compass Prep in Prescott Valley.
Josh Partin started on the hill and allowed only one hit through six innings. AZ Compass Prep scored two unearned runs in the first to take an early lead. Partin went on to strike out 11 and also had an RBI single.
Ethan Brenner came into pitch the top of the seventh, striking out the side, but the Dragons managed scratched out a run to tie the game at three.
The bottom of the inning saw the Warriors rebound to get the winning run off Dragon hurler Lorenzo Ruvalcaba. AZ Compass Prep falls to (7-2).
Henry Patterson had two hits for the Warriors that improved to (8-1) overall. Trinity Christian will host Heritage Academy on Tuesday at 6pm.
TRINITY CHRISTAIN WARRIORS 4, AZ COMPASS PREP DRAGONS 3
Innings- 123 456 7 – R H E
AZ Compass Prep 200 000 1 – 3 1 1
Trinity Christian 102 000 1 – 4 6 2
WP:Brenner
LP:Ruvalcaba
