-Blade  Contributing writer Central Arizona College baseball

(Signal Peak) - "Not too bad really" said head coach Anthony Gilich about the classic unpredictable wind conditions at The Big House Saturday. It was typically unpredictable.

Come on, it's the desert, what do you want.

Predictably, on each fly ball, you see all nine defenders shielding from that noon day sun, and hope for the best.

Both Central Arizona College and South Mountain played terrific defensive games though, but it was Central that had the long ball and all the "separators" that made the five run difference in a 7-2 win.

Central needed one win to win Bracket I and South Mountain needed two Saturday.

"Let's play one" was the theme for the day and Central will host Bracket II winner Yavapai on Thursday in Coolidge for a best-of-three to move on to the District finals.

Vaqueros starter Hunter Omlid (12-0) threw a magnificent seven and two-thirds and the head coach said before the game he had all the confidence in his starter before this game as he has had all year and Omlid did what he has done all year.

"How about Omlid huh?" Gilich said afterwards.

Complete command of his pitches, and weak contact all day excepting one double from Brice Martinez and a Holden Breeze homerun in the fourth.

DJ Carpenter got the third out in the eighth as he was asked to do and Leo Palacios threw only fastballs in a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

Central Arizona has just been a nightmare on bullpens all year, and as soon as starter Matt Bohnert was pulled after giving up three runs in three and two-thirds innings, South Mountain brought in closer Shawn Triplett (11 saves) who gave up only a single to Devon Dixon, before leaving with an injury.

"I hope the kid is allright" said Gilich.

"He is a very good player."

In the fifth, with Dixon on and Central up 3-2 with new reliever Trent Adams in and two outs, Dayton Dooney walked, and on his first pitch, Kiko Romero blasted a line drive over the fence in right field for three runs and a 6-2 lead.

Dagger.

Dusty Garcia then singled, stole second, and Jake Jarvis promptly doubled scoring Garcia.

Double dagger if you will.

That made the score 7-2 after five innings and that's how it finished.

Again, Central had the long ball with homeruns from Jarvis in the second to left off the scoreboard, a two-run homer from Dooney in the third, and finally Romero's in the fifth.

"We had our separators" continued Gilich.

"The plays we make that never show up in the box scores, things that people may not even notice."

Dixon's bunt single to start off that fifth inning is a perfect example. Garcia getting robbed by a diving South Mountain first baseman Michael Quinones on a shot in the hole, then robbing the first baseman right back by sliding head-first and beating the toss to the alert covering pitcher Bohnert.

Things like that.

Things like the eight hitter in Ryan Grabosch completely buffaloing the infield with a bunt to start an inning.

A bunt from from the eight hitter? A catcher no less?

"He surprised me" said a beaming Gilich. "I didn't call it, that fired even me up"

That bunt, as was Dixon's perfect bunt, was placed past the pitcher in third base no-mans land.

Separators.

JD McLaughlin forced an error with a tough throw on a chopper in the first inning with his speed, was caught off first base on a good move by lefty starter Bohnert, but yet still beat the throw to second base from the first baseman. Turning a pick-off into a stolen base.

Separator.

This was a brilliant baseball game.

Dixon started two innings with base hits as the ninth hitter. It's like a gift for the top of the lineup, and sure, he scored twice on those hits. A .352 hitter batting ninth?

Absolutely. Two more separators.

Diving stab by Garcia in left-center and Jarvis in right...in that wind? Short hopper stab by Romero at first on a chopper grabbed by the hustling Dixon on the right side?

Three more.

Things that happen that there is no evidence of in the next day's box score.

And you cannot downplay the defensive baseball South Mountain displayed this Saturday, the Derek Decolati shutdown of Central bats in the last three innings-this is a team that surely deserved to be right there.

Yavapai College won a back-and-forth against Arizona Western to win Bracket II late Saturday and Central will greet them with Mat Olsen Thursday at 2:00PM in the best of three.