MESA, Ariz. – Saturday afternoon's contest for the Roughriders at the 2022 Zinger Bat Invitational featured a heavyweight bout between two conference foes that are very familiar with each other. 

A rematch of last year's regional final, the No. 13-ranked Yavapai College baseball team's rally came up just a bit short against the No. 2-ranked Central Arizona College Vaqueros as Central defeated the Roughriders 7-5. 

A slow start to Saturday's contest plagued the Roughriders as the Vaqueros scored once in the first on an RBI single, twice in the second on a two-run homer and four times in the third on a few RBI hits and a sacrifice fly. 

Up 7-0 in the blink of an eye, the Vaqueros failed to score the rest of the game as the Yavapai bullpen tossed five shutout innings to keep its squad in the game. 

Freshman righty Jackson Thomas was the first reliever to emerge from the pen and he responded with three scoreless innings of one hit ball with four strikeouts. 

Sophomore righty Jace Taylor was handed the ball next and he tossed two scoreless innings with one strikeout and just one hit allowed. 

With the bullpen keeping the Vaquero bats at bay, Yavapai rallied and went to work offensively. 

In the top of the fifth, sophomore utility man Ryland Zaborowski led the inning off with a triple to right field and later scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of freshman catcher Cade Westerlund. 

After a scoreless sixth inning for YC, the Roughriders did the rest of their damage in the top of the seventh. 

Freshman infielder Alex Ulloa led the inning off with a triple to right and after Zaborowski was hit by a pitch and sophomore infielder Travis Warinner walked, Yavapai found itself with the bases loaded and no outs. 

Westerlund followed Warinner with a hit by pitch and then moved to second on a walk from sophomore infielder Kade York to bring in another YC run to cut the deficit to 7-3. 

Sophomore infielder Jo Stevens brought in YC's fourth run with a fielder's choice and freshman outfielder Jude Hall later brought in another run with a bases-loaded walk. 

Down 7-5 after scoring a four-spot in the seventh, the Roughriders were held scoreless in the eighth and ninth to bring the game to a close. 

Zaborowski and York each tallied two hits while Ulloa and Stevens accounted for YC's other two hits with one apiece. 

Up Next
Stay tuned on GoRoughriders.com and Yavapai athletics' social media platforms to see who and when the Roughriders play tomorrow to conclude their tournament.