Ed Petruska-Contributing Writer Pinal Central

SIGNAL PEAK — There was nothing fluky about the Central Arizona College baseball team losing to Yavapai in the opener of the Region 1 championship series.

Three home runs carried the Roughriders to a 5-4, 11-inning victory over the third-ranked Vaqueros in Thursday's game at CAC Field. Noah Turley delivered the decisive blast leading off the top of the 11th.

"They got us," CAC coach Anthony Gilich said. "It was a great playoff game. They have good hitters and a dangerous offense."

Central (45-6) fell to 2-3 against Yavapai (31-19) this season. Game 2 of the series is Friday at 2 p.m. and the teams will play a third game, if necessary, Saturday at noon.

"We got beat, but I expect us to come back and play well," Gilich said. "Our guys are competitors and they want to win."

Both teams are automatic qualifiers for the May 20-22 Western District tournament. The Region 1 champ will have the home-field advantage, however. CAC is 26-3 at home, with two of the losses coming to the Roughriders.

Yavapai took a 2-0 lead with nobody out in the second inning following a leadoff double by CJ Valdez and TJ Wheeler's home run. Valdez went deep leading off the fourth to make it 3-0. Both homers came off Central starter Mat Olsen, the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year.

After the Vaqueros tied it with two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth, Wheeler drew a bases-loaded walk off Olsen with nobody out in the sixth. Olsen, a Florence High School alum, struck out the next batter, then was replaced by Cristian Sanchez.

Sanchez ended the inning with one pitch — a double-play grounder to shortstop Devon Dixon.

Tyler Woessner pitched the final five innings for CAC and allowed only one hit before surrendering the home run to Turley — the ACCAC Player of the Year. Turley was 1 for 4 with three strikeouts prior to his at-bat in the 11th.

Yavapai came into the game with 90 homers, by far the most in the ACCAC, and the top three sluggers. Wheeler now has 20 home runs on the season, Turley has 19 and Valdez has 16.

The Vaqueros were held in check by Yavapai starter Declan Dutton until breaking through in the fourth. Kiko Romero walked with one out and Jake Jarvis drew a two-out walk. Tyler Griggs drove in Romero with a double and Jarvis came home on a wild pitch.

With two outs in the CAC fifth, JD McLaughlin and Dayton Dooney walked prior to Romero's RBI single.

The Vaqueros made it 4-4 in the sixth on an RBI squeeze bunt by Dixon off reliever Matt Bachelier. Griggs led off with a single, took second on a walk to Seth Beckstead and advanced to third on a wild pitch.

Tyler Davis followed Bachelier with 3 2/3 scoreless innings. Nathan Ward came on to notch the final six outs without allowing a hit.

"Both pitching staffs did a good job," Gilich said. "To hold our offense to four runs and limit those guys to five runs over 11 innings isn't easy to do."

Central stranded 11 baserunners, eight in scoring position.

Griggs had two of the Vaqueros' six hits. Yavapai finished with 10, getting three from Valdez and two apiece from Turley and Amari Bartee.

Olsen allowed four runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out 11 and walked two.