Morenci’s regular season ends in Tucson
By Raymundo Frasquillo
TUCSON – Morenci Boys of Summer are in a must-win situation to qualify for the postseason. The Christopher Aguallo-coached Morenci Wildcats (7-16 overall, 5-11 seeding, 3-5 region) conclude the 2026 regular season in Tucson on Friday, April 24. The opponent is the Saint Augustine Catholic Wolves (6-14, 6-10, 2-3), with a 4 p.m. start.
The Wildcats were ranked No. 23 (5-11 seeding, minus 2.3903 rating) and the Wolves No. 24 (6-10, minus 2.6531) as of noon on April 21.
Saint Augustine has a .283 (131-463) batting average with 107 of 132 runs batted in, 148 strikeouts, 81 walks, and 36 grazed batters; an .835 (295-105-79) fielding average with three double plays; and a 6.39 earned run average with 140 strike outs, 64 walks, 39 grazed batters, and 152 hits while facing 630 batters during 104 innings.
Morenci has a .243 (120-493) batting average with 79 of 109 runs batted in, 128 strikeouts, 57 walks, and 27 grazed batters; an .827 (354-85-92) fielding average with nine double plays; and a 6.37 earned run average with 120 strike outs, 108 walks, 44 grazed batters, and 153 hits while facing 688 batters during 118 2/3 innings.
Twenty-four teams will be involved next week, Nos. 9-24 in the Play-in Round at the higher seed on April 29. The winners will be paired against Nos. 1-8 for the 16-team state tourney first round at the Goodyear Ballpark – South Fields, 3171 South Wood Boulevard.
This week (April 20-25):
This week in the 2A South Region, No. 6 Bisbee (13-1 seeding, 9.8904 rating) visits No. 14 Willcox (9-4, 3.2557), No. 24 Saint Augustine (6-10, minus 2.6531) visits No. 25 Desert Christian (4-10, minus 2.7425), and No. 41 Santa Rita (0-8, minus 14.1778) hosts No. 44 San Miguel (0-11, minus 16.2572) on April 21; Benson hosts 2A East Region Pima, Willcox hosts 2A East Region Miami, and Tombstone hosts San Miguel on April 22; Santa Rita hosts 3A South Region Palo Verde Magnet on April 23; Bisbee visits Benson, Willcox hosts Tombstone, Saint Augustine hosts Morenci, and Desert Christian visits 3A South Region Vail Empire on April 24; and Tombstone visits 2A Central Region Phoenix Christian on April 25.
Remaining region pairings include Bisbee hosting San Miguel, Benson hosting Saint Augustine, Willcox visiting 1A Independent San Simon, and Santa Rita visiting 2A Central Region Phoenix Madison Highland Prep on April 27.
No. 24 Saint Augustine Wolves (6-10 seeding, minus 2.6531 rating)
Saint Augustine (6-14 overall, 6-10 seeding, 2-3 region) is averaging a 6-10 (125-193) score per game or a 4-run deficit through 20 games.
The Daniel Ramirez-coached Wolves have seeding wins over Tombstone (20-10 in 6 inn, March 5), Avondale Saint John Paul II Catholic (7-6, March 6), Santa Rita (20-10 in 4 inn, March 23), Sells Baboquivari (5-1, March 24), Palo Verde Magnet (8-6, March 27), and San Miguel (23-0 in 5 inn, April 17) along with losses to Benson (2-11, March 11), Desert Christian (4-12, March 10), Saint David (3-7. March 12), San Manuel (2-7, March 17), Chandler Prep (6-17 in 5 inn, March 20), Willcox (4-17 in 5 inn, March 30), Tombstone (2-8, April 1), Bisbee (1-12 in 5 inn, April 7), Pusch Ridge Christian (0-17 in 5 inn, April 8), Vail Empire (2-13 in 5 inn, April 13),
In addition, the Wolves went 0-4 during the Desert View tourney with losses were to Rincon/University (3-7, Feb. 26), Texas El Paso Chapin (1-11 in 6 inn, Feb. 27), Texas El Paso Austin (10-11, Feb. 27), and Texas El Paso Jefferson (2-11 in 6 inn, Feb. 28).
A 17-member roster has four seniors, three juniors, six sophomores, and four freshmen. The seniors are Gus Alcantar (10), Owen Ernie (1), Sam Lila (13), and Alex Martinez (6); juniors Sergio Cordova (24), Sergio Lopez (9), and Manny Rocha (22); sophomores Edgardo Cornejo (44), Gabriel Dominguez (16), Peter Martinez (4), Patrick Manriquez (2), Emillian Olguin (5), and Illian Olguin (3); and freshmen Alex Holtzer (52), Alain Lara (17), Sabastian Montoya (8), and Nino Tabanico (21).
Saint Augustine is competing in the 9-member 2A South Region with the Benson Bobcats, the Bisbee Pumas, the Morenci Wildcats, the Tombstone Yellow Jackets, the Willcox Cowboys, along with the Tucson schools Desert Christian Eagles, the San Miguel Catholic Vipers, and the Santa Rita Eagles.
No. 23 Morenci Wildcats (5-11 seeding, minus 2.3903 rating)
Morenci (7-16 overall, 5-11 seeding, 2-3 region) is averaging a 5-8 (117-192) score per game or a 3-run deficit through 23 games.
The Christopher Aguallo-coached Wildcats have seeding wins over Saint Johns (13-6, March 17), Phoenix Country Day (4-2, April 4), Santa Rita (22-2 in 4 inn, April 7), Desert Christian (11-0, April 13), San Miguel (17-1 in 5 inn, April 15) along with losses to Miami (7-16, March 4), Pima (3-16 in 5 inn, March 11), Eloy Santa Cruz (4-15, March 12), Eagar Round Valley (4-25 in 5 inn, March 18), Tombstone (3-5, March 23), Willcox (1-11 in 5 inn, March 26), Bisbee (1-6, March 31), Bisbee (0-10 in 6 inn, March 31), Winkelman Hayden (4-10, April 2), Pima (1-5, April 6), and Benson (1-11 in 6 inn, April 20).
Additionally, the Wildcats went 0-4 during the 3-day Florence tourney and 2-1 during the 3-day Benjamin Franklin tourney. The wins were over Buckeye Union (4-3 in 6 inn, April 9) and Saint Johns (5-1, April 11) while the losses were to Bagdad (3-8 in 4 inn, Feb. 26), Show Low (8-13 in 3 inn, Feb. 26), Florence (0-10 in 4 inn, Feb. 27), Superior (0-11 in 4 inn, Feb. 27), and San Tan Valley Combs (1-10 in 6 inn, April 10).
A 15-member roster has five seniors, two juniors, seven sophomores, and a freshman. The seniors are Michael Chavez (25), Jaymz Guzzo (4), Jesus Licano (6), Manuel Medina (12), and Anthony Roybal (34); juniors Matthew Aguilar (5) and Joel Baca (24); sophomores Brennan Burkhead (13), Alejandro LaPrada (2), Arick Martinez (20), Nathan Medina (3), Hunter Roumell (10), Tanner Roumell (16), and Rhyler Wyatt (1); and freshman Marcus Morgan (7).
Morenci is competing in the 9-member 2A South Region with the Benson Bobcats, the Bisbee Pumas, the Tombstone Yellow Jackets, the Willcox Cowboys, along with the Tucson schools Desert Christian Eagles, Saint Augustine Catholic Wolves, the San Miguel Catholic Vipers, and the Santa Rita Eagles.
2A South Region Standings
The South Region standings on April 20 had Bisbee (19-3 overall, 13-1 seeding, 6-0 region), Benson (13-11-1, 12-3, 6-0), Willcox (14-7, 9-4, 5-1), Tombstone (9-13, 6-8, 3-3), Tucson Saint Augustine Catholic (6-14, 6-10, 2-3), Morenci (7-16, 5-11, 3-5), Tucson Desert Christian (4-14, 4-11, 2-4), Tucson Santa Rita (0-8, 0-8, 0-7), and Tucson Santa Rita Tucson San Miguel Catholic (0-11, 0-11, 0-4).
Region pairing results to date have Bisbee over Desert Christian (14-0, March 23), Morenci (6-1, March 31), Santa Rita (25-0, April 3), Saint Augustine (12-1, April 7), Tombstone (10-2, April 17), and ; Benson over San Miguel (16-2 in 5 inn, March 26), Santa Rita (15-0 in 4 inn, March 31), Desert Christian (13-4, April 2), Willcox (4-3, April 7), Tombstone (14-4 in 5 inn, April 9), and Morenci (11-1 in 6 inn, April 20); Willcox over San Miguel (13-2 in 5 inn, March 23), Morenci (11-1 in 5 inn, March 26), Saint Augustine (17-4 in 5 inn, March 30), Santa Rita (26-1 in 4 inn, April 10), and Desert Christian (8-3, April 17); Tombstone over Morenci (5-3, March 23), Saint Augustine (8-2, April 1), and Santa Rita (16-1 in 5 inn, April 15); Saint Augustine over Santa Rita (20-10 in 4 inn, March 23) and San Miguel (23-0 in 5 inn, April 17); Morenci over Santa Rita (22-2 in 5 inn, April 7), Desert Christian (11-0 in 5 inn, April 13), and San Miguel (17-1 in 5 inn, April 15); and Desert Christian over Santa Rita (19-2, March 26) and Tombstone (8-3, April 7).
2A State Rankings
The 2A state-wide rankings of the Top 24 of 46 teams as of noon on April 21 had Scottsdale Christian (13-0 seeding, 20.2001 rating) No. 1, Phoenix Horizon Honors (11-1, 11.3690) No. 2, Gilbert San Tan Charter (12-1, 11.2303) No. 3, Eagar Round Valley (12-1, 11.0566) No. 4, Phoenix Christian (12-3, 10.0820) No. 5, Bisbee (13-1, 9.8904) No. 6, Benson (12-3, 9.0564) No. 7, and Eloy Santa Cruz (13-2, 8.2416) No. 8.
Wickenburg (14-2, 7.9990) was No. 9, Glendale Prep (11-4, 5.9252) No. 10, Fountain Hills (10-5, 5.2074) No. 11, Chandler Prep (7-6, 5.2023) No. 11, Phoenix Country Day School (8-7, 4.0440) No. 13, Willcox (9-4, 3.2557) No. 14, Pima (9-6, 2.4301) No. 15, and Laveen Heritage (8-4, 2.2776) No. 16.
Phoenix Arizona Lutheran (5-7, 1.3165) was No. 17, Tombstone (6-8, 0.6851) No. 18, Avondale Saint John Paul II Catholic (7-6, 0.5393) No. 19, Kingman Academy (8-7, minus 1.5260) No. 20, Flagstaff Northland Prep (7-5, minus 1.8546) No. 21, Camp Verde (4-10, minus 2.1936) No. 22, Morenci (5-11, minus 2.3903) No. 23, and Tucson Saint Augustine Catholic (6-10, minus 2.6531) No. 24.
The initial 2A state rankings as of noon on March 31 had Scottsdale Christian (4-0 seeding, 18.6873 rating) No. 1, San Tan Charter (7-0, 15.8968) No. 2, Santa Cruz (10-0, 15.1750) No. 3, Benson (6-1, 12.1838) No. 4, Horizon Honors (4-1, 10.9725), No. 5, Round Valley (7-0, 9.6557) No. 6, Bisbee (5-1, 8.5611) No. 7, and Phoenix Christian (6-2, 8.3562).
Glendale Prep (3-1, 8.3318) was No. 9, Fountain Hills (6-2, 7.8515) No. 10, Chandler Prep (4-3, 7.0670) No. 11, Phoenix Country Day (4-3, 5.3335) No. 12, Wickenburg (6-2, 4.8265) No. 13, Willcox (6-2, 4.0540) No. 14, Tombstone (4-4, 3.4810) No. 15, and Kingman Academy (5-3, 2.0674) No. 16.
Saint John Paul II (5-5, 0.3456) was No. 17, Heritage (5-3, 0.1520) No. 18, Arizona Lutheran (3-4, 0.0525) No. 19, Tucson Saint Augustine Catholic (5-6, minus 0.1197) No. 20, Desert Christian (3-6, minus 0.2484) No. 21, Camp Verde (3-5, minus 1.3443) No. 22, Phoenix Madison Highland Prep (5-5, minus 2.4639) No. 23, and Chandler Lincoln Prep (3-5, minus 2.4897) No. 24.
