Baseball clinches No. 1 seed for regional playoff
By: Rene Gomez
T-Bird baseball opened up a two-game home/away series sweep on April 18-19 against the South Mountain Community College Cougars.
Mesa won game one 8-2 with sophomore starting pitcher John Havird on the mound.
Havird earned another win to make his record 7-1 for the season as he went 7.2 scoreless innings and allowed eight hits with eight strikeouts.
“I definitely could throw better, but I just trust my guys out there: I mean this is the best team I’ve played on my whole life,” Havird said. “I just want to win.”
The T-Bird offense was fairly busy throughout the afternoon with the eight runs that were put up, with contributions from several hitters.
Sophomore Dillon Fahr and freshman James Anderson led the offense with both players going two for four.
Sophomore Levi Larmour and Anderson both had two RBIs and the heart of the order (freshman Jordan Zimmerman, sophomore Cole Loncar, and Anderson) each scored two runs.
Loncar got Mesa on the scoreboard in the fourth inning to get the offense started when he hit a double that scored Jordan Zimmerman from first base.
“It was a nice, high pitch; it was a change-up and he left it up so I got right on top of it and hit it down the line so it was nice,” Loncar said.
Game two on April 19 went 12 innings and Mesa had to rally in the top of the 12th to get the win.
Zimmerman went three for five, had an RBI and scored two runs with Anderson and Loncar driving in the other two runs for Mesa.
Freshman Evan Fresquez threw six innings and allowed one earned run off of six hits with four strikeouts for a no decision.
Freshman Daniel Lutz got the win to go 3-2 on the season and threw 3.1 innings for the T-Birds.
Mesa earned a No. 3 NJCAA Division II ranking as a result of sweeping the Cougars over the weekend.
The T-Birds also reached the 40-win mark for the sixth time since 2004.
Zimmerman was named ACCAC Hitter of the Week going eight for 15 with five extra-base hits, seven runs and three RBIs.
The Phoenix College Bears visited MCC on April 22 and Mesa had to score three runs in the bottom of the ninth to get a 5-4 win.
Zimmerman continued to swing the bat well as he went three for four with one RBI.
Freshman Ryan Chen had a tough outing as he went 1.2 innings and allowed four earned runs off of six hits.
Sophomore Drew Lacomb led the T-Bird hitters with two RBIs in the game.
With that win the T-Birds locked up the No. 1 spot in the Region I Playoffs.
Round one of the Region I Playoffs is scheduled for May 1-3, but specific times have not been announced.
Check the MCC athletics website for the announced times to post at athletics.mesacc.edu.
