Desert Ridge's run in 6th edges Trevor Browne in baseball

March 1, 2012 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Desert Ridge and Trevor Browne struggled to score runs Thursday afternoon despite having runners on base in nearly every inning. And Desert Ridge gladly accepted the final run it scored, especially since the ball never left the infleld to score it.

Desert Ridge's gift run in the sixth proved to be the difference as the Jaguars edged Trevor Browne, 4-3, in a Division I baseball matchup at Desert Ridge.

J.D. Donovan's second hit and second RBI of the game -- an infield single with two outs - drove in the decisive run. That final run was manufactured partly by Desert Ridge, partly by Trevor Browne.

Desert Ridge improved to 4-2 for the season and 1-0 in power-point games.Trevor Browne, which won the Division I portion of Cesar Chavez's baseball tournament last weekend, is now 5-2 overall and 1-1 in ppg.

Both teams are young this year and coming off 25-win seasons or better from 2011. Desert Ridge coach Pat Herrera chatted with his team for about 15 minutes afterward not enamored with what he saw.

"We're young and trying to find our way, but we need to be more intense," Herrera said. "They did just about everything better than we did except score more runs."

Desert Ridge took a 3-2 lead to the bottom of the sixth and faced Trevor Browne relieve/second baseman Miguel Ruiz, who traded places with starting pitcher Mark Hernandez. Ruiz got the first out on a grounder to second, but hit No. 9 hitter Ryan Foster with a pitch. Ruiz then balked, sending Foster to second. A pitch or two later, Riley Unroe hit what might have been a double-play ball to second. It was only worth an out because of the balk and Foster moved to third.

Donovan then worked the count to 3-2 and ended up slapping a ground ball to the right of Hernandez.Hernandez had to range far to his right to field the ball. His throw to first was late. Foster scored on the play for a 4-2 lead.

"Both teams had guys on base, they had guys at third, we had guys at third a lot," Trevor Browne coach Deston Cummings said. "The difference was they scored all their runs with two outs."

While Herrera was glad to walk away witht the win and wasn't satisfied overrall, he did single out the effort of starting pitcher Zach Foose. Foose went the distance throwing three pitches for strikes. He scattered nine hits, did not walk a batter and struck out six. He didn't have one 1-2-3 inning.

Foose needed the extra run of support he got. Foose fanned the leadoff hitter in the seventh, then surrendered a solo homer to left by Christian Camacho (3-for-4 in the game) that made it 4-3. Foose got another K and ground out to finish.

"It was a nice effort Foose gave us," Herrera said. "Good command, a complete game early in the season."

Cummings liked what he saw from his pitching, a staff that overall pitches to contact but doesn't issue many free passes.

Our pitchers have done well so far," Cummings said. "We just had little things hurt us today. This team has surprised me so far. We had seven seniors leave us last year, so we have a lot of new guys. Getting a chance to play a team like Desert Ridge is good. It makes you want to come out and play. Our guys were fired up."