Central swept Western Arizona in Yuma Saturday afternoon, and with a South Mountain sweep of Yavapai, the Vaqueros now have a two game lead in the ACCAC with eight games left in the regular season.

The season's latest national rankings have the Vaqueros at #4 in the JUCO Top25 Perfect Game Rankings and at #8 in the NJCAA Division I Poll.

The NJCAA Division I Team statistics page has Central Arizona third in the nation in runs scored and second in total hits. Thanks to a first baseman in Caleb Henderson, Central is also second in triples in the country. 

The Central pitching staff is now second in the country in total strikeouts and with Dakody Clemmer's eighth win Saturday, he and George Castillo are now third nationally with eight apiece.

There are more.

If you were to mention these statistics to the coach, here's what he'd say:

"Yeah"

Game 1:  7-6 (seven innings)

Dakody Clemmer had a shaky start, settled, and  whiffed eight Matadors in getting his eighth win of the season, and Pikai Winchester doubled, going 3-3 and scoring twice in game one, Bradley Morgan went 0-2, yet drove in two runs with a SAC bunt and SAC fly.

"Those sacrifices for RBI's were huge for our offense" said head coach Anthony Gilich.

Jaime Estrada popped a sacrifice fly and went 2-3 and scored.  Brent Gibbs doubled and singled for two of his five hits on the day and Jayden Eggiman scored two more times via pinch-running and has now scored 41 times this year. Eggiman is dangerous, an outright event on the base paths. 

George Castillo came on in the ninth as Western scored twice, and struck out the side for a save, his first. It's a "please sit down sir" as the final out and the Vaqueros get a great win.

"The bullpen came in and did a great job of attacking hitters" said the head coach (see game two).

Game 2:  9-4 

Andrew Edwards threw a pretty good five  and 1/3 innings as the starter in game 2 and won his fourth of the year without a loss. The bullpen of Sati Santa Cruz and Ben Skuro wrapped up the sweep without giving up any hits or runs in the final three and a third. Impressive.

Brent Gibbs, Ernie de la Trinidad, and Henderson each had three hits in this game, two doubles for Henderson along with three ribs and a stolen base. It's another two-bagger from DLT, who also scored three times. Roger Varela drove in two with a hit. 

It's just plain fun when your first baseman is stealing bases. And what's more fun than tapping home plate three times in a game DLT? 

Central Arizona travels north to play a pretty solid Yavapai baseball club on Tuesday. It's my guess the ol 25'er will start one of those.

Notes: Quiet leaders, Brent Gibbs, Mitchell Robinson and Chris Kobar. Consistent producers who make few mistakes, don't say much, and don't have to. Kobar is hitting over .350 with seven doubles and who would know?  

DB9

-Blade