Arizona College Prep captured its first baseball Arizona Interscholastic Association state championship Tuesday at Tempe Diablo Stadium with an 11-3 win over Horizon, only seven years after its baseball program was launched.

Horizon, which entered the playoffs as the No. 11 seed with a 16-17 record, became only the seventh team in Arizona history to reach a championship game with a losing record. Its postseason run was fueled by resilience and an inability to quit, although it ended at the hands of ACP in the title game.

The Knights wasted little time taking control offensively behind MVP Ashton Sanchez, who finished 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs. 

“Our energy was good from the get-go,” Sanchez said. “We just used that momentum through the whole game, put up those five runs and got on the board first.” 

Sanchez immediately set the tone for ACP, ripping the first pitch he saw through the right side for a single. 

This sparked a two-run first inning for the Knights with Sanchez and Jaden Guglielmo scoring off RBIs from CJ Estrella and Cash Groppenbacher.

Horizon looked to immediately respond in the second inning with the bases loaded, but was unable to capitalize. ACP’s ace Clayton Nachman got out of the jam and sent the Knights into the bottom of the second inning without giving up a run – a critical moment. 

After PJ Vega’s RBI single sent Ryan O’Donnal home to make it 3-0, Sanchez delivered the biggest hit of the game, launching a two-run homer over the left field wall to extend ACP’s lead to 5-0.

“We knew that we could not lose this game,” Sanchez said. “Coming in, we just had that mentality that whatever happens, just compete.”

ACP continued pulling away in the fourth inning after Austin Longfellow crushed a three-run homer to right field, extending the Knights’ lead to 11-1. 

“This has been the mission,” ACP head coach Andrew Pollak said. “We met a year ago to the day. The juniors who are now my seniors, this is what they wanted and we went to work for 12 months. God is good. Holy cow man, state champs.”

Throughout the game, Horizon struggled to generate consistent offense against Nachman, who exited the game after allowing five hits and two runs. 

Still, Horizon continued fighting to avoid the fifth-inning run rule, displaying the same resilience that fueled its unlikely postseason run.

Horizon finished as the AIA 5A state championship runner-up despite starting the season 4-14. (Aly Schmitt photo/AZPreps365)

“This team faced so many different situations where they could have given up, and you wouldn’t have blamed a high school kid for doing it,” Horizon head coach Luke Peevyhouse said. “But they refused. They wanted the challenge. It's just nothing but resilience and pride in this team.”

Reliever Grant McInturf entered the game in the sixth inning and shut down Horizon’s final push, securing ACP's first baseball championship in its short history.

This was the last time ACP competed in 5A, as it will move up to 6A next season. 

“We’re going to go back to work, we’re going to build resilient and tough baseball players,” Pollak said. “The brand of baseball won’t change—hard-nosed, and fundamentally sound—but we’re going to enjoy this one.”