THATCHER, Ariz. – The Yavapai College baseball team hit the road for a long trip on Tuesday afternoon to face the Eastern Arizona College Gila Monsters and came away with the doubleheader sweep after winning 7-2 and 9-7, respectively. The sweep is the second road sweep of conference competition this season for YC and pushes its overall record to 8-8 and conference record to 5-5. 

Game One
Freshman righty Dillon Orr got the start and win on the mound in game one for the Roughriders with five innings pitched, two runs allowed, six hits, two walks and four strikeouts. Orr now moves to 3-1 on the young season. 

In relief of Orr was sophomore righty Zach Hose who tossed two scoreless innings and allowed no hits while striking out one. 

With the pitching staff keeping the Gila Monster offense in check, the Roughriders broke through offensively in the middle innings in Tuesday's game-one contest. 

In the top of the third, freshman infielder Pierce Radke chopped an RBI single over the head of the EAC third baseman to give the Roughriders a 1-0 lead. 

In the top of the fourth, sophomore infielder Ethan Thomas launched his second homer of the season, a two-run shot to push the lead to 3-0. Four batters later, and with two outs, freshman infielder Niko Rosell singled through the right side to bring home two more YC runs. 

EAC chipped away at the 5-0 YC lead with two runs of its own in the bottom of the fourth, however, sophomore outfielder Jude Hall got those runs back in the top of the fifth with a two-out two-RBI triple to the right center gap to give YC a 7-2 lead that proved to be the final. 

Radke wound up with two hits in game one while Thomas, Hall, Rosell, sophomore outfielder Jackson Lapiner and freshman outfielder Nolan Sparks all finished with one. 

Game Two
The Roughriders needed extra innings to take home their second win of the day as EAC jumped out to a 4-0 lead in game two and took that lead all the way into the top of the fifth. 

In the aforementioned frame, Thomas singled with the bases loaded to bring home two YC runs and cut the deficit in half. Later in the inning, the Roughriders received two free passes with the bases loaded to tie the game at 4-4. 

The Gila Monsters regained the lead in the bottom of the inning on a two-run homer, however, saw the lead vanish in the top of the sixth as YC, once again, received two free passes with the bases loaded to tie things up at 6-6. 

In the top of the eighth, the Roughriders took their first lead of game two on a solo homer off the bat of Lapiner, however, EAC countered with a run of its own in the bottom of the eighth to bring the back-and-forth contest to 7-7. 

After a scoreless top of the ninth, the Roughriders turned to Hose once more, after already pitching two innings in the first game, and he responded with a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extras.

In the top of the tenth, YC was able to load the bases and received a go-ahead two-run single off the bat of freshman catcher Wailele Kane-Yates to bring the score to 9-7. 

Hose was then able to pitch around an error in the bottom of the tenth to earn the victory and clinch the sweep with a 9-7 game-two win. 

Thomas, Hall, Kane-Yates and Radke all tallied two hits apiece in game two while Lapiner and sophomore infielder Mitch Wood each finished with one. 

Up Next
The Roughriders are back on the diamond on Saturday, March 4, in Casa Grande, Arizona, where they will take on the No. 4-ranked Central Arizona College Vaqueros with first pitch of the doubleheader set for 11 a.m.