By ED PETRUSKA Contributing Writer Pinal Central

SIGNAL PEAK – Toiling in workmanlike fashion, the Central Arizona College baseball team produced a 10-5 victory over Phoenix on Wednesday in its home opener.

The defending national champion Vaqueros overcame an early 2-0 deficit at McSwain Field with a pair of four-run innings. Five pitchers combined to limit the Bears to six hits in the nonconference game.

"It goes a long way when you keep adding (runs) on and on," CAC assistant coach Isaiah Overman said. ""It puts a lot of pressure on the other team. If the four-run innings are one-run innings, it's a completely different ballgame. It's really nice to tack on every run you can get."

The Vaqueros (6-3 and ranked No. 1 in the NJCAA Division I preseason poll) finished with 12 hits. Eight players had at least one.

"No matter where you're hitting in the lineup, you're there for a reason. You're there to do a job," Overman said.

Ashtin Webb went 3 for 5 with three RBIs. Kooper Schulte also drove in three runs while going 2 for 4. Blake Young was 2 for 3 with a double.

Daniel Davila, making his first start of the season for Central, struggled in the first inning. After issuing three walks to load the bases, Davila gave up a two-out RBI single to Kyle Casados. With three runners still aboard, Cole Snidow was hit by a pitch to give the Bears a 2-0 cushion.

Davila retired the side in order in the next two frames and once again in the fifth. Only two batters reached base against the right-hander in his final four innings, one on an error.

"Coming out, he struggled a little bit with his command," Overman said. "After that (Phoenix) didn't do much. He did really well adjusting and pitching like we needed him to do. He was able to settle in really nicely."

Davila (1-0) allowed two hits, struck out four, walked three and hit one in his five-inning stint.

Left-hander Daniel Sotelo started for the Bears (5-2 and ranked No. 11 in Division II). He faced the minimum six batters in the first two frames before the Vaqueros put up four runs in the third. Central sent eight to the plate, getting an RBI triple from Blake Avila following run-scoring singles by Sebastian Tomerlin and Webb. The other run scored on one of five Phoenix errors.

CAC again sent eight to the plate in fourth inning en route to scoring four runs off reliever Brogan Stevens. Schulte's bases-loaded single drove in two runs, Webb had an RBI single and Luke Thiele came home on a wild pitch.

Central made it 10-4 on Schulte's RBI double and Webb's run-scoring single in the sixth.

Issac Lizarraga had a two-run single for Phoenix off Michael Trausch in the top of the sixth, and Ryan Schiefer gave up an RBI groundout by Joshua Cortez in the ninth.

Felix Schlede struck out the side in the seventh and Cam Demos pitched a 1-2-3 eighth for the Vaqueros.

"It was good for (the four relievers) to go out and get an inning in," Overman said. "We're confident in them to do the job."

Central begins its 38-game Arizona Community College Athletic Conference campaign on Saturday with a doubleheader at Pima.