Ed Petrusky-Contributing Writer-Pinal Central

SIGNAL PEAK – When Drew Sommers entered the game for the Central Arizona College baseball team, it was season over for Yavapai.

The left-handed reliever struck out 11 of the 14 batters he faced in working the final four innings of Friday's 6-2 victory over the Roughriders at McSwain Field. The 10th-ranked Vaqueros (48-10) swept the best-of-three Division I Region 1 semifinal series and will host Cochise or Arizona Western in next week's championship series.

Sommers was magnificent. Upon taking over for starter Shane Spencer, and with Central clinging to a 3-2 lead, Sommers began his stint by striking out seven straight. After hitting a batter and allowing a single with one out in the eighth, he notched another strikeout before getting an inning-ending groundout.

And for good measure, he struck out the side in order in the ninth.

"Drew's outings have been getting better and better and better," CAC coach Anthony Gilich said. "As amazing as he was, I can't say I was surprised."

Sommers entered the game with a 1.82 ERA, 48 strikeouts and 14 walks in 29 2/3 innings. The save was his team-leading fourth.

Spencer (11-1) was no slouch. He allowed two runs and four hits in the first inning, but only two Roughriders reached base during the next four innings. The right-hander struck out eight and walked two in five innings.

"Shane gave us a great start," Gilich said. "He gave up the two-spot, and it could've gotten away from us. But he settled in and put up zeros after that."

Spencer retired eight straight prior to departing.

Gilich said the game plan was to have Spencer pitch five innings and then bring on the relievers. As it turned out, he only needed one.

"We had the whole bullpen available and we wanted to be tied or have the lead," he said. "We had the 3-2 lead and it felt good turning it over to the bullpen."

Yavapai (36-19-1) entered the postseason with a .330 team batting average, which led the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference. The Roughriders were limited to three hits in Thursday's 17-3 run-rule loss and six on Friday.

"We played clean, which is our calling card," Gilich said. "To score on us, you have to hit us."

The Vaqueros did not commit an error in the series. Central's pitchers combined for 26 strikeouts and seven walks in 16 innings.

Yavapai sent eight batters to the plate in the first, taking a 2-0 lead on Ben Zeigler's RBI double and a run-scoring single by Rocco Gump. Both hits came with two outs.

The Vaqueros got one back in the second. Yavapai ace Nathan Ward issued walks to Dusty Garcia and Ashtin Webb to begin the inning. The runners advanced on a wild pitch before Garcia came home on Chase Valentine's one-out RBI groundout.

Central made it 2-2 in the fourth. Garcia walked with one out and scored on Webb's double.

The go-ahead run came in the fourth. The Vaqueros loaded the bases on a walk to Ryan Ball, Jaylin Rae's single and a walk to Kiko Romero. With two outs, Ward hit Garcia with a 3-2 pitch give Central the lead.

Central gained some breathing room with a three-run seventh. Facing Roughriders reliever Cayden Collins, Rae reached on a one-out error. Romero followed with his second double of the game. Batting against a drawn-in infield, Blake Avila bounced a two-run single to right. Avila advanced to second on Garcia's single, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Webb's sacrifice fly.

"We've done a good job all year of putting up runs against (opposing) bullpens," Gilich said. "We got that crooked number which helped to separate us a little bit and nail down the win."

The Vaqueros finished with eight hits, getting two apiece from Rae and Romero.

Cochise and Arizona Western will play a decisive third game in their semifinal series on Saturday. Cochise took the opener 11-8 on a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning and Western prevailed 5-4 in 10 innings on Friday.