PRESCOTT, Ariz. – It was a wild day at Roughrider Park on Tuesday afternoon as the Yavapai College Roughriders and Arizona Western College Matadors played in a couple of slugfests with the Roughriders winning game one 10-7 and the Matadors taking game two 10-9. 

Overall, the Roughriders are now 26-17 on the season with a 19-13 record in ACCAC play as they continue to chase down a spot in the region playoffs. 

Game One
Freshman righty Dillon Orr registered the start on the bump in game one for YC and tossed six gritty innings, allowing seven runs (only four of which were earned) while striking out eight, walking five and allowing six hits. 

Freshman infielder Niko Rosell backed Orr's cause right away as he smoked a two-run homer in the first inning (his second of the season) and scorched an RBI double down the line in the third inning to give the Riders an ealy 3-1 lead. 

After Rosell drove in three, momentum started to wear an AWC helmet as the Matadors scored once in the fourth and five times in the top of the sixth to take a commanding 7-3 lead while standing six outs away from a game-one victory. 

The Roughriders, however, rallied and gave themselves a chance with a big sixth inning. Sophomore infielder Ethan Thomas walked to start the frame and was later followed by a single off the bat of fellow sophomore infielder Mitch Wood. 

The next batter, sophomore outfielder Jude Hall, laced a single off the wall to load the bases with one out. Freshman infielder Quinn Allen then stepped up to the plate and delivered a huge blow, rifling a bases-clearing double to center to bring the Roughriders within a run. 

After the Roughriders failed to get Allen home to tie the game, sophomore righty Zach Hose came on in relief and pitched a scoreless top of the seventh, aided by a caught stealing from freshman catcher Wailele Kane-Yates, to send the game to the bottom of the seventh with the Roughriders needing a run to keep things going. 

Freshman outfielder Nolan Sparks sparked the seventh-inning rally for the Roughriders with a leadoff double and made his way to third on a single by Rosell. With runners on the corners, Thomas then stepped up to the plate and singled to center to tie the ballgame at 7-7 with runners on first and second and still no outs.

After a couple of outs, Hall came to the plate and put an end to the madness with a three-run homer to right center, his fifth longball of the season, to give YC the walkoff victory in game one. 

Sparks led the Roughriders with four hits in game one while Rosell had three. Hall and Allen each tallied two while Thomas, Wood and freshman infielder Pierce Radke each had one. 

Game Two
In the second game of the afternoon, YC was forced to play catchup for most of the contest as AWC jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth. 

The Roughriders rallied once more, however, as Kane-Yates launched a two-run homer (his sixth of the season) in the inning to cut the deficit to 6-2. Two batters later and with two outs, freshman catcher Avery Isola doubled in a run and later scored on an RBI single off the bat of Allen to make it 6-4. After Allen's RBI single, sophomore outfielder Blake Jacklin singled in a run and the Roughriders trailed just 6-5 after four complete. 

Now down 7-5 in the bottom of the seventh, Kane-Yates singled home Sparks to cut the deficit to just one run once more in the ballgame. 

In the top of the eighth, the seesaw battle continued as the Matadors pushed two runs across to extend their lead to 9-6. In the bottom of the eighth, the Roughriders countered with a game-tying three-run homer off the bat of Thomas, his team-leading 10th longball of the season, to bring the score to 9-9. 

Unfortunately for the Roughriders, the valiant comeback attempt would come up short as the Matadors plated a two-out run in the top of the ninth while the Roughriders went down in order in the bottom half of the inning. 

At the plate, in game two, Rosell and Allen each tallied three hits while Kane-Yates finished with two. Jacklin, Sparks, Thomas, Wood, Hall and Isola all finished with one apiece. 

Up Next
The Roughriders are back in action on Saturday, April 22, at home where they will host the South Mountain Community College Cougars with game one of the doubleheader set for a noon start.