Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Gary Najar (4) watches the ball go over the fence against San Manuel. The Duncan senior dispatched a 2-run homer with two outs in the third inning, batting 1.000 (2-2, 3 RBIs) for the game. Duncan sent the Miners home with a 10-5 region loss on March 28. The Wildkats visit Baboquivari on Thursday, April 6, and Mogollon on Saturday, April 8.
Wildkats second in South Region standings
By Raymundo Frasquillo
DUNCAN – The Brett Jensen-coached No. 19 Duncan Wildkats embark on a pair of road trips this week,
visiting No. 22 Sells Baboquivari on Thursday, April 6, and No. 11 Heber Mogollon on Saturday, April 8. The total mileage is under 500 or four hours one way with a day of rest in between. The Baboquivari game is for regional play.
In other region pairings this week (April 3-8), No. 8 Tucson Desert Christian visits No. 16 San Manuel on April 6.
Non-region games include No. 2 Winkelman Hayden at No. 15 Elfrida Valley Union on April 6 and Saint
David at No. 3 Bagdad on Friday, April 7.
In region games played this week, No. 9 Desert Christian defeated No. 16 Ray 7-1, No. 15 Valley Union
defeated No. 22 Baboquivari 6-2, and No. 8 Saint David defeated No. 24 Patagonia 14-0 in five innings on
April 3; and No. 5 Saint David defeated No. 17 Kearny Ray 7-4 on April 5.
Region pairings next week (April 10-15), have Ray at Baboquivari and San Manuel at Valley Union on April
10, Desert Christian at Patagonia on April 11, Saint David at San Manuel, and Valley Union at Patagonia on
April 12, Duncan at Valley Union on April 13; and Duncan at Desert Christian, Patagonia at San Manuel, and Ray at Valley Union on April 14.
Non-region pairings include Fort Thomas at Duncan on April 11, Baboquivari at Eloy Santa Cruz, and Chandler Lincoln Prep at Ray on April 12, Fort Thomas at Baboquivari on April 14, and Saint David at Bisbee on April 15.
South Region Standings
The region standings after games played April 5 have Saint David (10-4 overall, 8-2 seeding, 8-0 region) first, Duncan (8-4, 7-2, 6-1) second, Desert Christian (8-4, 8-2, 5-1) third, San Manuel (4-8, 4-3, 3-3) fourth, Valley Union (5-8, 4-5, 3-4) fifth, Ray (5-10-1, 2-6, 2-4) sixth, Baboquivari (3-8, 3-8, 2-7) seventh, and Patagonia (0-9, 0-9, 0-9) eighth.
To date, Saint David (8-0) has region wins of 10-0 in five innings over Duncan (March 3), 15-1 in five innings over Baboquivari (March 16), 16-1 in five innings over Patagonia (March 22), 10-0 in six innings over Baboquivari (March 24), 10-2 over Desert Christian (March 29), 15-2 in five innings over Valley Union (March 31), and 14-0 in five innings over Patagonia (April 3); Duncan (6-1) 4-3 over San Manuel (March 20), 15-5 in five innings over Valley Union (March 22), 11-0 in five innings over Patagonia (March 24), 21-6 in five innings over Patagonia (March 24), 11-10 over Ray (March 27), and 10-6 over San Manuel (March 31); San Manuel (3-3) 15-4 over Baboquivari (March 27), 10-6 over Ray (March 28), 9-2 over Patagonia (March 29); Ray (2-3) 20-0 in five innings over Patagonia (March 7) and 16-8 over San Manuel (March 22); Valley Union (3-4) 14-1 in five innings over Patagonia (March 28), 16-7 over Baboquivari (March 29), and 602 over Baboquivari (April 3); and Baboquivari 15-14 over Patagonia (March 20) and 19-8 in six innings over Patagonia (March 31).
1A State Rankings
Rankings for the 1A Class number 5-of-7 (.714) from the East Region, 5-8 (.625) from the South Region, 4-7 (.571) from the West Region, and 2-4 (.500) from the North Region in the Top 16. At mid-week (April 5), the Top 16 of 24 eligible 1A teams were North Region Williams (10-0 seeding, 14.2687 rating) No. 1, East Region Winkelman Hayden (9-2, 7.6038) No. 2, West Region Bagdad (10-2, 3.8620) No. 3, North Region Fredonia (4-4, 3.8680) No. 4, South Region Saint David (7-2, 2.8588) No. 5, East Region Chandler Lincoln Prep (6-5, 2.5217) No. 6, West Region Anthem Prep (7-2, 2.0902) No. 7, South Region Desert Christian (8-2, 1.7622) No. 8, East Region Superior (2-5, 1.1766) No. 9, and South Region Duncan (7-2, 0.1561) No. 10.
East Region Heber Mogollon (4-3, minus 1.0008) is No. 11, East Region Joseph City (4-5, minus 1.1273) No. 12, West Region Mayer (5-3, minus 2.7669) No. 13, West Region Glendale Desert Heights Prep (5-4, minus 3.2093) No. 14, South Region Valley Union (4-5, minus 4.9152) No. 15, and South Region San Manuel (4-5, minus 5.4887) No. 16. The other South Region member rankings were No. 22 Baboquivari (3-7, minus 9.4265) and No. 24 Patagonia (0-9, 17.7381).
Baboquivari Warriors (3-8, 3-8, 2-7)
The Pete Delgado-coached Warriors have won three of 11 seeding games and have not participated in a tourney. Baboquivari has wins of 10-9 over Eloy Santa Cruz Union (March 18), 15-14 over Patagonia (March 20), and 19-8 in six innings over Patagonia (March 31). The losses were 10-15 in five innings to Saint David (March 16), 2-12 in six innings to Desert Christian (March 22), 0-10 in six innings to Saint David (March 24), 17-25 in eight innings to Phoenix North Valley Christian (March 25), 4-15 to San Manuel (March 27), 7-16 to Valley Union (March 29), 0-10 in six innings to Desert Christian (April 1), and 2-6 to Valley Union (April 3).
Mogollon Mustangs (5-6, 4-3, 3-2)
The Reed Porter-coached Mustangs have won three of six seeding games and one of four tourney games.
Mogollon has wins of 17-0 in five innings over Fort Thomas (March 9), 18-3 in five innings over Fort Thomas (March 9), 7-5 over Saint Johns (March 27), and 19-7 over Lincoln Prep (April 4). The losses are 5-11 to Hayden (March 10), 2-17 in five innings to Williams (March 25), and 0-4 to Joseph City (March 28).
The Mustangs went 3-1 during the 30day Gilbert Benjamin Franklin tourney, with a lone win of 10-2 in five
innings over Florence Leadership – Anthem South (Feb. 24). The losses were 3-7 in five innings to Chandler
Prep (Feb. 23), 0-14 in four innings to host Benjamin Franklin (Feb. 24), and 4-11 in five innings to Coolidge
(Feb. 25).
Through 10 games, the Mustangs are batting .276 (62-225) with 48 RBIs, 12 doubles, and a triple. They have also struck out 77 times, received 50 walks, and were beaned mime times.
Defensively, Mogollon has a combined .836 (209-250) fielding average and turned in six double plays.
The 6-member pitching corps has combined for a 5.08 earned runs allowed average, yielded 37 earned runs of 74 scored, struck out 42, walked 40, yielded 73 hits, and beaned 10 while facing 283 batters during 51 innings.
Duncan Wildkats (8-4, 7-2, 6-1)
The Brett Jones-coached Wildkats lost their initial two seeding games, but have won the ensuing seven. Duncan has seeding wins of 4-3 over San Manuel (March 20), 15-5 in five innings over Valley Union (March 22), 11-0 in six innings over Patagonia (March 24), 21-6 in five innings over Patagonia (March 24), 11-10 over Ray (March 27), 17-0 in four innings over San Carlos (March 29), and 10-5 over San Manuel (March 31).
The Wildkats also went 1-2 during abbreviated games played during the 3-day Joseph City tourney. Duncan defeated Tuba City 11-0 in five innings (March 9), and fell 2-12 in five innings to Joseph City (March 10) and 6-16 to Chinle in five innings (March 11).
Through 12 games, the Wildkats are batting .445 (130-292) with 95 RBIs, 29 doubles, seven triples, and three home runs. They have also struck out 76 times, received 71 walks, and were beaned 21 times.
Defensively, Duncan has a combined .883 (249-282) fielding average and turned in six double plays.
The 7-member pitching corps has a combined 6.00 earned runs allowed average, yielded 54 earned runs of 86 scored, struck out 95, walked 42, yielded 85 hits, and beaned 18 while facing 334 batters during 63 innings.
Duncan – 10, San Manuel – 5
Trailing by two runs (3-5) after 5 1/2 innings with the bases loaded, senior Brodie Waters doubled in two to tie the score (5-5) with no outs, a bases-loaded walk for freshman Ethan Hernandez drove in the go-ahead run (6-5), and a 2-out, bases-loaded balk added a fifth run (8-5) before the third out was recorded.
Duncan added two more runs (10-5) in the sixth to complete the scoring. San Manuel scored three in the first and two in the second but was kept from crossing the plate during the ensuing five innings.
The Wildkats trailed by three (0-3) when stepping to the plate for the first time, but by four (1-5) on their
second at-bat. Senior Gary Najar sent the ball over the fence to drive in two runs during the third inning.
The Wildkats batted .393 (11-28), with Najar batting 1.000 (2-2, home run, 3 RBIs), Waters .750 (3-4, double, 3 RBIs), senior Diego Montoya .667 (2-3), sophomore Isaac Harris .500 (2-4, triple), junior Adriano Burrola and freshman Pablo Ruiz (3 RBIs) both .333 (1-3) and Hernandez 0-2 (2 RBIs).
On the mound, Montoya walked five, struck out one, and allowed four hits while facing 14 batters during 1 2/3 innings. Reliever Hernandez struck out six, walked three, and yielded a single hit while facing 20 batters during 5 1/3 innings.
