Photo: The scenic view from the stands at Prescott High School
Playoff baseball opens up today with the Badgers hosting the Flagstaff Eagles. The two teams split the games in the regular season with each team winning at home. The Badgers won 14-5 in Prescott on April 15. The Eagles held on to win 7-6 on April 17 in Flagstaff, after leading six zip.
Flagstaff needed a play-in game win over the Douglas Bulldogs to advance to the first round. The Eagles have won five straight since dropping the first of two with Prescott.
Brody Johnson leads the team with a .453 average. Cullen Collander is at .449 and leads the team with 31 hits. Christian Welker has scored 27 runs and has 20 stolen bases on the season. On the mound, the pitchers the Eagles have used the most are Wil Carpenter and Connor Iniguez. Prescott got to Carpenter early thanks to some errors, but it took six innings for the Badgers to get to Iniguez. Carpenter will not pitch against the Badgers this time due to pitch restrictions from throwing in the game versus Douglas, so Iniguez is the safe bet.
Prescott has also won five in a row after dropping the second game of the series at Flagstaff. The team is averaging 11 runs a game and big innings are not uncommon with a rock solid lineup from top to bottom thanks to a team batting average of .384. Luke Tobin leads the team with 35 hits and a batting average of .538. Cooper Magnett is right behind Tobin at .536. Nick Martin has scored the most runs with 38 and is batting .485. Adrian Sanderford leads the team with 32 RBIs and has had pitched the most innings with 42 and is most likely to get the ball.
A win by the Badgers today will be the most since the 2016 won 20. Prescott is undefeated at home this season, winning all seven games played below the legendary Cal Cordes press box.
Bradshaw Mountain will be on the road as they travel to Queen Creek to play Crismon. The Rattlers are coming off a 10-9 extra inning loss at Prescott on Monday. The Bears beat Eatsmark 9-5 at home on Wednesday to advance to the first round. Both teams are in search of their 20th win of the season.
Crismon has lost three straight and five of their last six. The catch is that all of the Rattlers losses have come to playoff teams. Aaden Lopez leads the team with 10 home runs and 43 RBIs with a batting average of .550.
The Bears leading hitter is Caden Randall with 30 hits and an average of .448. Garison Jones leads the team with 25 RBIs and has a batting average of .338. Drew Strader has 10 stolen bases. Jeremy Reynolds leads the pitching staff with 44 innings and has six wins and has an ERA of 2.86. Dylan Lockwood has 26 strikeouts in 21 innings of work.
The question here is can the Bears pitching staff keep the Crismon bats in check? The Rattlers are a few clicks under a .400 batting average as a team. An error free contest would bode well for Bradshaw Mountain.
First round games are single elimination in Division 4A. Second round begins double elimination, which means you have to lose twice to get bumped out of the playoffs.
Radio station1450 KNOT-AM in Prescott is scheduled to broadcast the game between Prescott and Flagstaff at 11am.
4A DIVISION PLAY-IN GAMES SCOREBOARD
Bradshaw Mountain 9, Eastmark 5
Deer Valley 8, Lee Williams 7
Flagstaff 6, Douglas 1
Mesquite 2 Estrella Foothills 1
Mica Mountain 6, Walden Grove 3
Saguaro 11, Thunderbird 1, 5 innings
St. Mary’s 8, Paradise Honors 5
Yuma 10, Cholla 0, 5 innings
3A DIVISION PLAY-IN GAMES SCOREBOARD
Apache Junction 9, Chino Valley 0
Benjamin Franklin 7, Holbrook 0
Blue Ridge 4, Chinle 2
Empire 5, Show Low 4
Odyssey Institute 1, Tonopah Valley 0
Payson 7, Florence 6
Pusch Ridge 3, Tanque Verde 2
River Valley 17, Page 1
4A DIVISION PLAYOFFS-First Round
All games today at 11am
Upper Bracket
#16 St Mary’s (15-11) at #1 Salpointe Catholic (21-4)
#9 Bradshaw Mountain (19-6) at #8 Crismon (19-8)
#12 Yuma (21-5) at #5 Ironwood Ridge (22-7)
#13 Mesquite (19-8) at #4 Cactus Shadows (22-3)
Lower Bracket
#15 Mica Mountain (13-11) at #2 ALA-Queen Creek (22-3)
#10 Saguaro (15-11) at #7 ALA-Gilbert North (16-10)
#11 Deer Valley (18-8) at #6 Sahuarita (19-5)
#14 Flagstaff (19-9) at #3 Prescott (17-5)
