The No. 15 ranked Arizona Western College Matadors Baseball team (31-7, 18-6) scored 23 runs in a doubleheader sweep of Glendale (28-14, 10-14) on Saturday afternoon at Walt Kammann Baseball Field, winning game one 9-5 and finishing the sweep with a 14-4 win in seven innings in game two.
Nathan Houston picked up three hits and drove in a run while Eli Watson drove in a pair in the Matadors’ 9-5 win over the Gauchos in game one.
The Matadors took a 1-0 lead in the first inning thanks to a Bronson Neave RBI single before adding a second run in the second inning on a fielder’s choice. After Glendale cut the Matadors’ lead to 2-1 in the fourth, the Matadors tacked on three runs in the fourth, two of them scoring on a bunt single and throwing error before Houston doubled in the third run of the inning.
Glendale scored four runs in the sixth inning to tie the game at 5-5 but the Matadors answered with four runs in the bottom half, highlighted by a two-run double from Eli Watson to extend the lead to 9-5.
Carlos Uribe worked around a pair of singles in the seventh inning to record the save and secure the 9-5 win.
Houston doubled twice while Sergio DeCello went 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored in the Matadors’ game-two win.
Robert Miranda opened the scoring in the second game, leading off the bottom of the first inning with a solo home run to left field and the Matadors added a second run in the inning when Neave was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Glendale grabbed a lead in the second inning, scoring three runs to take the 3-2 advantage. The Matadors batted seven times in the second, scoring three runs, two coming on a double from Houston to put the Matadors up 5-3. Watson added the sixth run of the game in the third with an RBI single.
Arizona Western stretched the lead to 8-3, scoring a run in the third on a Watson RBI single and two more in the fourth on a Fausto Sanchez RBI groundout and a Luca Hoerger RBI single up the middle.
With the Matadors leading 10-4 in the sixth, Arizona Western batted 10 times in the inning, scoring four runs on six hits before Alex Flores came in and tossed a scoreless seventh inning to finish off the sweep.
Neave went 2-for-3 with three runs batted in and Taehyung Kim and Jahzeel Groetelaers each picked up two hits in the win.
