By ED PETRUSKA Contributing Writer Pinal Central

SIGNAL PEAK — Postseason play began with a smooth ride to victory for the Central Arizona College baseball team.

The third-ranked Vaqueros defeated Cochise 7-3 on Friday at CAC Field, scoring all of their runs after the Apaches took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Mat Olsen matched his season high with 12 strikeouts while allowing only two hits in seven innings, and Tyler Griggs slammed a two-run homer in the second to put Central ahead to stay.

Four unearned runs in the fourth extended the lead to 6-1 for the Vaqueros, who are 44-5 overall and 25-2 at home.

"It's good to get the first one under our belt," CAC coach Anthony Gilich said. "We had chances to push across a few more runs, but we got enough to win."

Central needs one win Saturday to advance to next week's Region 1 tournament championship round. The Vaqueros face South Mountain at 11 a.m., with a second game to follow against the Cougars (32-15) if necessary.

Olsen (10-0, 1.41 ERA) had a spot of trouble in the first inning, giving up a one-out single to Hernan Yanez followed by Connor Caskenette's RBI double. Just four other Apaches reached base against Olsen, three on walks and one on an error.

The Florence High School alum and Arizona Community College Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year retired the final 11 batters he faced.

"Mat didn't have his best stuff right off the bat, but he got stronger as the game went on," Gilich said. "He struggled with his breaking ball in the first four innings but once he found it, he was pretty tough to hit."

Griggs' home run, his fourth of the season, came with two outs after Kiko Romero was hit by a pitch leading off the second.

A dropped popup opened the gates for CAC's fourth-inning burst. Jake Jarvis scored from second on the error after doubling with one out. A balk by Cochise starter Jose Velazquez brought in the next run, and JD McLaughlin capped the rally with a two-run single.

Preston Godfrey put the Vaqueros up 7-1 with a two-out RBI single in the sixth off reliever Ismail Pontiac.

Griggs and Jarvis each had two of CAC's nine hits.

The Apaches (27-23) narrowed the margin to 7-3 when Ethan Silcox hit a two-run homer off Shane Spencer with one out in the eighth.

Cochise had the tying run at the plate with two outs in the ninth against Drew Sommers after loading the bases on a pair of walks and a single. The game ended with Sommers fanning Gerardo Hernandez for his third strikeout of the inning.

"We made it interesting, but Drew's been great for us all year," Gilich said.

CAC catcher Seth Beckstead threw out would-be base stealers at second in the second and third innings, and center fielder Dusty Garcia robbed Yanez of extra bases with a spectacular diving catch in the sixth