Ed Petruska-Pinal Central

SIGNAL PEAK – Lights-out pitching and patience at the plate carried the Central Arizona College baseball team to a 9-0 victory over GateWay on Tuesday at McSwain Field.

CAC's three hurlers limited the Geckos to four hits. Starter Theo Millas went six innings and reliever Michael Trausch struck out all six batters he faced before Jasiah George completed the shutout with a scoreless ninth.

The fourth-ranked Vaqueros (16-5, 9-2 Arizona Community College Athletic Conference) took advantage of nine walks and four hit batters to subdue GateWay (10-7, 5-6 ACCAC) with relative ease. Central put up five runs in the second inning, one in the fourth, two in the sixth and one in the seventh.

"I thought it was good we added on some ones and twos," CAC coach Anthony Gilich said. "As an offense, we've been trying to do that. And it helps when the pitchers continue to throw zeros."

Millas (4-1) retired the side in order just once. But the only time the right-hander was in real trouble was the second. The Geckos put a runner at third with one out when Diego Trujillo doubled and continued to third on an error.

A comebacker to Millas and his throw to the plate to nail the runner got him out of the jam. Millas allowed four hits, struck out four, walked one and hit one in lowering his ERA to 1.52.

"He threw a lot of strikes, which he always does," CAC pitching coach JoJo Howie said. "He kept them off-balance. He has four pitches (fastball, changeup, curveball, slider) and he used all of them evenly. He pitches to a hitter's weakness and gets soft contact. You're going to have to get a bunch of hits in a row to beat him."

Trausch, a left-hander, struck out the side in order in the seventh and the eighth.

"He came in and dominated," Howie said. "He continues to get better."

Finding innings for all the pitchers is tough, Howie said, because everyone on the staff "is throwing really well. We feel good about everybody we have."

CAC's team ERA is 2.79. The pitchers have registered 262 strikeouts in 174 innings while allowing just 69 walks.

The Vaqueros collected 13 hits off four GateWay pitchers. Luke Thiele went 3 for 5. Getting two hits apiece were Mario Bejarano, Kooper Schulte and Fisher Pyatt. Blake Avila drew four walks and singled before being retired on a flyout in his final at-bat. Batting in the No. 9 spot, Prince DeBoskie walked twice and was hit by a pitch.

The Vaqueros left the bases full in the first inning (they wound up stranding nine in scoring position) but were not to be denied in the second. With one out, GateWay starter Cade Nelson gave up a double to Pyatt and issued walks to DeBoskie and Avila. Ashtin Webb was hit by a pitch to force in the first run.

Nelson departed with an injury after facing 11 batters in 1 1/3 innings. He walked four, hit two and gave up one hit.

The second run scored when reliever Tyler Smith issued a bases-loaded walk to Marcus Harrison. Avila then came home on a wild pitch before Bejarano singled with two outs to drive in two runs.

Schulte had an RBI single in the fourth off Smith. Webb drove in CAC's second run of the sixth inning with an infield single off Noah Olson after the first scored on an error. Bejarano tripled with two outs in the seventh against Connor Thiele and scored on a single by pinch-hitter Braydon Rogers.