Jonathan Duarte (batting) is hit by a pitch to force in a 6th inning run in Yuma Catholic's 5-1 win over Benjamin Frankiin on Friday afternoon. Duarte pitched YC to the victory. (AzPreps365 photo)

The long trip from Yuma to Queen Creek didn't faize Yuma Catholic in its bid to win a 3A play-in game and advance to the state tournament.

Junior Jonathan Duarte was in control the whole way pitching #20 Yuma Catholic to a 5-1 victory over #13 Benjamin Franklin at Benjamin Franklin High School.

Duarte, a left-hander, won his sixth game of the season tossing a six-hiiter. -- all singles. He didn't issue a walk and fanned seven, a season high.

"He's that lefty that drives you (opponent) crazy," Yuma Catholic coach Curt Foppe said. "He pitches to contact, and did that all day.  Other than the first inning defense was great. He should have had a shuout, but we will take this. Any win in postseason is golden."

Yuma Catholic, third in the Metro Region this season, will play  #1 Sabino as a result of its victory next Friday (May 4) in the first round of state at the Surprise Sports Complex. Benjamin Franklin, which finished third in the Central Region, closed its season 10-9.

Duarte surrendered an unearned run in the first, allowing two hits and a two-out error infield error that allowed Benjamin Franklin to score.

Yuma Catholic (13-10-1) didn't trail for long, grabbing the lead with the only multi-run inning of the game in the top of the second. The Shamrocks cashed in on one hit, two errors and a sacrifice fly for a 2-1 advantage over Ben Franklin starter Chase Adams. Chris Argomaniz's sacrifice fly plated one run and the go-ahead run scored on the second error of the inning.

The Shamrocks added single runs in the third, fourth and sixth to give Duarte plently of cushion. 

"We kept tacking on and that was OK," Foppe said. "I would have liked to see us put up a crooked number because we had chances for a big inning."

Duarte finished strong. After giving up consecutive singles to open the bottom of the sixth, he got the next six outs in a row - four of them strikeouts. Duarte helped himself at the plate with a triple and RBI hit-by-pitch in the sixth.

Audie Ethington had two of Yuma Catholic's eight hits. Randal Voutt and Aidan Rodriguez also had RBI for Yuma Catholic. The game's leading hitter was Benjamin Franklin's Trey Foster (3 for 3).