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| Tom Johnson hurls a pitch home for the Thunderbirds. MCC has a 28-16 overall record as of April 14 and lead the ACCAC Division II teams with a 14-12 conference record. Mesa plays at home against Pima CC April 19 in a double-header that starts at noon. |
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| Bryan Miller slides into third as Eastern AZ refuses to contest his attempt. |
Rebecca Straughmatt Mesa Legend |
T-birds drop two, hold standing
MCC baseball ranked No. 7 nationally Dalton Walker
Mesa Legend
The MCC baseball team is pacing themselves for the latter part of the season.
Scottsdale Community College recently visited Mesa and took a home and home series from MCC. April 8 was the first battle of the season between the top two teams in the conference.
SCC pounded MCC for 10 runs in their first game holding off a late MCC rally winning 10-9. The next day MCC traveled North to SCC only to be shutout 4-0.
“They’re a good ball club, anybody can beat you,” Coach Tony Cirelli said.
MCC’s lead over SCC is down to five games. Cirelli gives SCC credit but believes his players are not playing up to their potential. “We give games away (because of) mental mistakes,” Cirelli said of his team’s inconsistentcy.
Despite the recent blunders MCC still leads the conference in batting average at .327and are the seventh ranked team in the NJCAA Division II poll with a record of 28-16 as of April 14. MCC was the lone Arizona team mentioned in the Division II NJCAA poll.
On April 5, Eastern Arizona Community College visited Mesa for a double header. The T-birds handed Eastern Arizona a couple of losses by the margins of 3-2 and 8-6.
The two wins were part of a span of 10 wins in 12 games dating back to March 23. The two losses came to Pima Community College on April 2. MCC traveled to Tucson and lost the first game by two runs 7-9.
The second game MCC gave up a double digit score going on to lose 10-7.
The losses against PCC and later SCC were costly because it continued to chip away at the conference lead MCC had of 10 games after taking two games from Eastern AZ on April 5.
“We lost five conference games but the efforts were still good and we’re playing well,” Cirelli said. “We’re leading the league in hitting.”
New faces are leading the T-bird offensive attack including freshmen Bryan Miller who is leading the team in numerous offensive categories including hits, runs, doubles, triples and a batting average of .393.
“The freshmen have stepped up, which I didn’t expect,” Cirelli was referring to the onslaught of freshman who have been playing above expectations.
Charlie Calamia is another surprising freshman who has been a force for the defense at shortstop, according to Cirelli.
“We struggled early (in the season) defensively but since we put him in and he has really sured up the defense,” Cirelli sad.
Cirelli thought his sophomore pitching would lead the way this season but he said the freshman have played better than expected.
“We thought our pitching would be strong at the beginning, but they have been struggling lately,” Cirelli said.
Sophomore Pitcher Paul Schmidt is leading the T-birds with 62 strikeouts and the T-birds main slinger Kyler Newby, according to Cirelli, has been pitching well.
Freshman Garrett Kohler leads the pitching staff in wins with a 5-1 record.
Mesa’s bullpen duties have been taken on by fellow freshman hurlers Brian Broderick and Andre Fernandez. Broderick acts as set-up man for closer Fernandez as former closer John Cahill has moved to the starting rotation where coach Cirelli said he is doing well.
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