• By ED PETRUSKA Contributing Writer Casa Grande Dispatch-Pinal Sports

SIGNAL PEAK — When the starting pitcher hurls four no-hit innings before departing and the offense erupts for 20 runs, it's one heck of a way to begin a baseball season.

Central Arizona College plastered Colorado Northwestern 20-3 on Wednesday at CAC Field in a season-opening game that ended in the seventh inning under the mercy rule.

"There's a million different ways to win," CAC coach Anthony Gilich said. "You just have to find one. Tomorrow there might be another way to do it."

Right-hander Mat Olsen overcame a shaky outset, retiring 12 of the final 13 batters he faced. The Florence High School product registered nine strikeouts after the Spartans (0-1) loaded the bases with nobody out in the first on a walk, an error and a hit batter.

"The top of the first didn't go as planned, but we found a way to get out of it," Gilich said. "That's what a championship team does. We needed to limit the damage, and we did a good job."

Olsen wriggled out of the jam with a strikeout, a force at the plate and another strikeout.

"Mat's been around the block," Gilich said. "Once he got out of the first, he settled in and got into a groove. He threw mainly fastballs but when he couldn't find his command at the beginning, he started going to his slider to get back into the zone."

Olsen retired the final nine batters he faced after issuing a leadoff walk in the second. He struck out the side in the third and had two strikeouts in each of his other three innings.

The Vaqueros, whose chance to repeat as NJCAA World Series champion in 2020 was put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic, amassed 16 hits against five Colorado Northwestern pitchers. Seven went for extra bases, including home runs by JD McLaughlin and Devon Dixon.

"I was really happy with the offense," Gilich said. "We got a bunch of hits and scored a ton of runs. We ran the bases well and did a lot of other little things that helped us win."

After going down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first, the Vaqueros scored four runs in the second inning, eight in the third, three in the fourth and five in the fifth. They sent 12 to the plate in the third inning and batted around in the second and fifth.

Dixon went 2 for 3 with a two-run double in the third and a two-run homer in fourth. Driving in three runs apiece were McLaughlin, Dayton Dooney and Preston Godfrey. McLaughlin, Godfrey and Jake Jarvis all went 2 for 3 as did Matt Aribal, who had had a two-run double in the second.

Kiko Romero drilled an RBI triple in the third, and Hayden Seldomridge went 2 for 2 after coming on as a pinch hitter in the fifth. Seldomridge replaced starting catcher Seth Beckstead, who doubled in his final at-bat after walking in his first two trips. Vinnie LaGatta contributed two RBIs.

The first hit for the Spartans was Hayden Moore's two-out RBI single off Cristian Sanchez in the fifth. Their second run scored on a fifth-inning wild pitch, and Abraham Arroyo hit a two-out solo homer in the sixth off Sanchez, who struck out four and walked five in two innings.

Liam Evans worked around one of two CAC errors to close out the Spartans in the seventh, striking out two.

The Vaqueros have nine more nonconference games prior to beginning Arizona Community College Athletic Conference play Feb. 27. Fans are not allowed to attend games due to coronavirus restrictions.