-Blade Central Arizona College Baseball Beat

(Grand Junction) - This one had all the makings of a normal baseball game. As an example, the score was 5-2 after five innings. It was a nice boring baseball game.

Being as most of these games have winners scoring more than ten runs and sometimes both teams over twenty-five together, 5-2 after five innings would be considered boring.

But it was a solid baseball game from both teams until the bottom of the fifth when Kiko Romero hit his first homerun of the game, and Dusty Garcia hit his first. Romero ended up with three, Garcia with two and Ryan Ball hit one out in the four-run seventh inning that gave the Vaqueros their second run-rule walk-off homerun in a row, in a 11-3 win over Crowder Community College.

It's a ten-run rule win after five innings, and eight after seven.

Crowder heads home and Central advances to play the loser of last night's Walters State/Wabash Valley game, which was Wabash Valley. 

That game is Thursday at 2:00PM Arizona time.

There are only four teams left in this ten-team double eimination tournament. Cowley Community College (3-1), Wabash Valley (2-1), Walters State (3-0), and Central Arizona (2-1).

Whew.

Being fairly close until the sixth, the Vaqueros looked completely in control of this one. Starter Tyson Heaton never budged an inch. He featured total command of all of his pitches, nothing got away from him through six innings, and the only emotion you saw was when he canned the last batter he faced on a swinging K in the sixth. He had six on the day, his first five were sightseers.

-Tyson Heaton's after his sixth strikeout in the sixth inning Wednesday

Ball had three hits on the day, there was Romero's three bombs, Garcia had three hits, Logan Valencia added two doubles, and overall, it was fifteen hits for Central. Valencia couldn't be happier out there, he has been banged up almost the whole season. As the regular first baseman finally, he is smiling and talking to every player who reached first. Never met a stranger. 

Heaton limited Crowder to six hits and three runs and reliever Drew Sommers left a lovely parting gift by striking out the side in the seventh.

In a JUCO World Series that really seems typical, with the aluminum bats and teams that aren't very deep in pitching, and with plenty of 15-13 baseball games, Central has made it to this JUCO very well prepared.

I'll just put it that way. Well prepared.

Tyler Woessner, Shane Spencer, Heaton.

So far.

There are others.