Photo by Jeff Barrett
By Jose Briseno
The Utah State University Eastern Eagles traveled to Douglas, Arizona to take on the No. 13 Cochise College Apaches on Tuesday.
Dakari Armendariz drove in two runs on a single to left field, and an error by the Cochise left fielder allowed Armendariz to advance to third and score a third run on the play. The Eagles shut down the Apaches in the bottom half of the first to lead 3-0 after one inning.
A Kaden Davis three-run homerun gave the Eagles a 6-0 advantage in the top of the third inning. Following a Creed Mogle walk, Tyler Nelson hit an RBI triple to push the Eagles’ lead to 7-0. Nelson then scored on a passed ball to give Eastern an 8-0 cushion.
Cochise scored four runs in the bottom half of the inning to cut USU Eastern’s lead to 8-4. Kaden Davis drove-in three runs, with two outs, to maintain Eastern’s 11-4 lead in the top of the fourth inning.
Eastern scored three more runs in the top of the seventh as Korbet Pope, Mack Bright and Davis Kirby each scored to push the Eastern lead to 14-4. Carson Hawkes, Troy Connell and Dylan Hawkes shut down the Apaches after the third inning to claim the 14-4 win.
Carson Hawkes started the game on the bump for the Eagles and tossed four innings and allowed four runs, zero earned, on four hits. Carson Hawkes tallied six strikeouts and six walks in the outing. Troy Connell threw two scoreless innings and struck out one batter before Dylan Hawkes tossed the final inning, striking out three Apache batters.
Kaden Davis led the offensive charge for Eastern with six runs batted in, including a three-run homer. Dakari Armendariz also had two RBIs. Eastern scored 14 runs on 10 hits and nine walks.
Eastern cooled off in the second half of the doubleheader as Cochise jumped to a quick 4-0 lead after two innings. Eastern scored two runs on an Armendariz double that scored Luke Erickson and Ty Barker. Cochise scored again in the bottom of the fourth and Eastern trailed 5-2 after four innings.
Conner Bancroft and Armendariz drove in another two runs to trail the Apaches by one in the top of the seventh. An Eastern error allowed Cochise to score four runs in the bottom of the seventh to extend their lead by four runs. The Apaches would add another in the bottom of the eighth to give the final score of 10-4.
Micah Del Rio, Ky Decker, Tyler Harris and Rylan Marti all saw time on the mound for the Eagles. The pitching staff recorded nine combined strikeouts and two walks.
Armendariz and Erickson led the Eagles with two hits each and Armendariz recorded another three RBIs.
“We played well the first game,” said head coach Kirk Haney. “We didn’t keep our momentum from the first game and made some costly mistakes that gave them the second game.”
The Eagles will play another doubleheader on Wednesday against the Apaches. Game one is scheduled for 12 p.m. MST. Game two is scheduled for shortly after at 2:30 p.m. MST.