Miguel Vega (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

 

It was much closer than the defending 4A state champions would have liked, but Nogales held on to defeat Mountain View Marana 3-1 Thursday to improve to 8-2 on the year. The Apaches lost seven players to graduation, including Ralph Padilla, Mika Bracamonte and Cesar Dominguez, Jr., but the bulk of that championship team returns.

How good is that returning lineup?

Miguel Vega picked up his third win of the year on Thursday and Mark Lopez is 2-0. The starting lineup is batting close to .370 with Jorge Bojorquez leading the way with a .469 average.

Kevin Jimenez is hitting .444 with two home runs and 12 RBI, Ricky Maytorena is hitting .385, Marcel Bachelier is hitting .379 with 15 RBI with three home runs and Alec Acevedo is batting .344 with 10 RBI and two home runs.

Still, the Apaches were limited to six hits Thursday against a team hoping to build upon another near miss. All five losses suffered by Mountain View (3-5) this year have come by two runs or less with three by one loss.

“We’ve been in a lot of close games and we really can’t complain a lot,” Mountain View head coach Kyle Ivanoff said. “We have to keep it together and come up with some hits. There is room to build upon especially in a close game against the state champions.”

Matt Brown took the mound for the Mountain Lions and it looked like he was going to falter early against the hard-hitting Apaches, but he put together five plus innings of work, only giving up one earned run.

Maytorena hit a double to lead the game off and Bojorquez singled him home but Brown induced a fly ball and the runner was doubled off to limit the damage. Nogales added two unearned runs in the top of the second with Maytorena stealing home and Bojorquez picking up another RBI but that was it.

Brown got into trouble in the top of the sixth after Acevedo singled and Alex Ramos and Maytorena were both hit-by-pitch with two outs, but Andrew Northcutt took the ball in relief and got the third out on a ground ball.

“We have a lot of the same kids on the team from last year but we lost some leadership and the new leaders are learning,” explained Nogales head coach OJ Favela. “Last year we scored early and we hit the ball hard today but right at them. Close games like this will be good for us because our region will be a dogfight.”

Vega limited Mountain View to four hits but the Mountain Lions picked up an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single from Roberto Morales (no relation) that brought in Garrett Falkenstine.

Maytorena went 2-3 and Bojorquez went 2-4 with two RBI. Bachelier and Azevedo recorded singles and Vega went seven innings with five strikeouts and no earned runs.

Alan Alvarez went 2-3 to lead Mountain View and Jake Smith and Morales had the other two hits. Brown threw 5 2/3 innings with one earned run and three strikeouts. Northcutt took care of all four batters he faced.

Nogales will host Sabino (9-1) on Friday night and Mountain View will host Tucson (1-3).