PRESCOTT, Ariz. – With a steady wind blowing out of Roughrider Park on Saturday afternoon, the Yavapai College baseball team let its power be seen to all fans in attendance as the Roughriders knocked eight balls out of the ballpark en route to a doubleheader sweep of the Mesa Community College Thunderbirds with final scores of 14-3 and 11-5, respectively. 

"We played all four aspects of the game, pitching, relief pitching, defense and offense, very well," Head Coach Patrick Woods said after the sweep. "We played winning baseball and picked up a pair of team wins."

On the season, the Roughriders are now 15-17 overall and 7-13 in conference play. 

Game One
The first ballgame of the day featured a slow start and fast finish for YC as the Roughriders trailed 3-0 heading into the bottom of the third. 

That's when the Roughrider bats came alive in a big way as sophomore infielder Riley Nelson laced a two-out two-run double off the wall in right center to cut the deficit to one. The next batter, sophomore catcher Wailele Kane-Yates tied the ballgame with a double to right. 

After Nelson and Kane-Yates drove in runs, freshman infielder Nick Miller capped the inning off with some fireworks when he launched a two-run homer, his first of the season, to right to give YC a 5-3 lead with all five runs being scored with two outs. 

In the top of the fourth, Mesa mounted a threat of its own, loading the bases with just one out and the tying and go-ahead runs all over the basepaths. Unfortunately for the Thunderbirds, sophomore pitcher Austin Humphres took the ball and struck the next two Mesa hitters out to preserve the lead and end the threat. 

In the bottom of the fourth, freshman outfielder Mason Saint Hilarie led the frame off with his second homer of the season and the next batter, sophomore infielder Quinn Allen, made it back-to-back jacks with his first longball of the season. Later in the frame, Miller drove in a run to bring the YC advantage to 8-3. 

After a zero from Humphres in the top of the fifth, the Roughriders were set for some more yard work in the bottom of the frame to put the run-rule into effect. 

With one out and the bases loaded, freshman outfielder Nate Nichols singled home a run to bring the score to 9-3. On the next pitch, sophomore infielder Pierce Radke singled home two more runs to bring the score to 11-3 in favor of YC. 

One pitch later, Nelson completed the furious finish to the ballgame with a three-run homer, his fourth of the season, to put the aforementioned run-rule into effect with a 14-3 final. 

Taking home the victory on the mound was freshman pitcher Traig Oughton who tossed 3.1 innings of three-run ball while striking out four. 

At the plate in game one, Nichols, Nelson, Miller and Saint Hilarie each notched two hits while Radke, Kane-Yates, Allen, sophomore outfielder Ryan Pruitt and sophomore catcher Luke Moeller all had one as each Roughrider who stepped up to the plate recorded a hit. 

Game Two
In the second game of the day, YC took an early lead on a two-run homer from Kane-Yates, his fifth of the season, in the bottom of the first. The lead was short lived, however, as Mesa capitalized on some messy defense in the top of the second and put up a five-spot to take a three-run lead. 

Mesa's lead, however, was also short lived as the Roughriders chipped away in the bottom of the second with a sacrifice fly from Moeller and solo homer from Saint Hilarie, his second of the day and third of the season. 

In the bottom of the third, YC took the lead for good after a two-run bomb from Nelson, his second of the day and fifth of the season, and an RBI single from Pruitt to go up 7-5. 

Two innings later, Kane-Yates singled home a run and Miller followed it up with a monster three-run homer, his second of the day and season, to give YC a commanding 11-5 lead and put the game on ice. 

After the four run outburst in the bottom of the fifth from the Roughriders, the teams traded zeros until the last out and YC clinched the sweep with an 11-5 game-two victory. 

On the mound, freshman pitcher Carter Boone took home the victory after giving the Roughriders 5.2 gutsy innings while allowing just four earned runs and striking out seven.

In relief, sophomore pitcher Kaden Schiefelbein gave YC 1.1 innings of scoreless relief, including a strikeout with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth. 

Freshman pitcher Tyler Bailey and sophomore pitcher Loreto Siniscalchi each pitched a scoreless inning of relief as well in game two. 

At the plate, Radke, Kane-Yates and Nelson each had two hits while Miller, Pruitt, Moeller, Saint Hilarie and freshman catcher Josh Jones each had one. 

Up Next
The Roughriders are back in action on Tuesday, March 26, in Glendale, Arizona, where they will take on the Glendale Community College Gauchos with first pitch of the doubleheader set for a noon start.