Ed Petruska-Pinal Central

SIGNAL PEAK – The fourth-ranked Central Arizona College baseball team disposed of Chandler-Gilbert in rapid fashion on Friday at McSwain Field.

Starting pitcher Patrick Steitz threw six shutout innings, and the Vaqueros had 12 hits in a 12-0 victory. The game ended in the seventh inning under the 10-run rule. Central (21-5, 13-2 Arizona Community College Athletic Conference) has compiled 10 consecutive wins.

"I don't think you can draw that (final score) up, but what I liked is it was real clean," CAC coach Anthony Gilich said. "What I was most proud of was how hard we were playing late. We had guys sliding hard, running hard, cutting off balls in the outfield – all of those little things matter."

The Vaqueros sent 12 batters to the plate in a seven-run second inning after putting up two in the first. They finished off the Coyotes (13-11, 7-8 ACCAC) with single runs in the third, fifth and sixth.

"In my experience, if you get a huge inning there's always a bunt in there somewhere and we had two in (the second)," Gilich said. "Our guys have been doing a good job of executing."

The first bunt was by Luke Thiele, who reached on a sacrifice that was misplayed for an error. Jonathon Hernandez, who went 3 for 3, provided a bunt single to prolong the rally and later scored the final run of the inning.

Marcus Harrison went 2 for 3 with three RBIs, Hernandez drove in two runs and Tyrese Johnson was 2 for 3 with two RBIs. Mario Bejarano and Lou Albrecht also had two hits apiece.

Steitz raised his record to 5-1. The right-hander limited Chandler-Gilbert to three hits, struck out four and walked none in lowering his ERA to 1.64.

"The cool thing about today was his strikeout numbers were down (Steitz came in with 53 in 31 2/3 innings pitched) but his weak early outs were up," Gilich said. "He got a lot of weak contact early and that's what kept his pitch count down. He only threw 78 pitches and could have easily stayed in there."

Steitz retired the first nine batters before surrendering Ben Hoshizaki's leadoff single in the fourth. Ethan Hatch singled with one out in the fifth, only to be erased on a nifty 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. Jon Enright singled with one out in the sixth.

"He's been a pretty elite strike-thrower," Gilich said of Steitz. "He's not only able to throw strikes but also command the zone. He hits the spots he wants to with multiple pitches. He can throw any pitch (fastball, slider, changeup) on any count, which makes it tough on the hitters."

Jasiah George worked the seventh to complete Central's fourth shutout of the season and lower the pitching staff's ERA to 2.54. After hitting leadoff batter Dante Turgeon and giving up a single to Tate Lewis, George retired Ryder Hancock on a liner to right. The game ended with CAC turning a 6-3 double play.

Central went up 2-0 in the first on an RBI double by Hernandez and Ashtin Webb's run-scoring groundout.

The key hits in the second were two-run singles by Johnson and Harrison, who also had an RBI single in his first at-bat of the inning. Bejarano singled to drive in a run and another scored on a passed ball.

Hernandez had an RBI double in the third off Chandler-Gilbert starter Andrew Yusypchuk, who allowed 10 runs (eight earned) and 11 hits in four innings. Pinch hitter Prince DeBoskie had a run-scoring single in the sixth.

The Coyotes have lost six straight.