Carroll, Chaparral shock No. 1 Hamilton
Scottsdale Chaparral pulled off the most shocking win of the playoffs so far, beating top-ranked Chandler Hamilton 5-0 behind the brilliant pitching of Andrew Carroll on Tuesday night at Tempe Diablo Stadium.
Carroll limited Hamilton to two hits, walked one and struck out 10 in going the distance and advancing the Firebirds in the 6A double-elimination state baseball tournament.
Hamilton falls into an elimination bracket and will face No. 12 Tempe Corona del Sol on Thursday at 4 p.m. at home to try to keep its season alive. Corona del Sol eliminated No. 3 Mesa Red Mountain with a 5-3 victory.
Chaparral, the No. 8 seed, advance in the winner’s bracket to Saturday to play No. 5 Queen Creek at 6:30 p.m., at Diablo Stadium.
In the bottom bracket, No. 10 Perry defeated No. 2 Phoenix Alhambra to move into the winner’s bracket to face No. 6 Chandler on Saturday at 4 p.m., at Diablo Stadium.
Hamilton (23-4) is ranked No. 20 in the nation and was coming off a five-inning, 12-1 run-rule win Saturday over San Luis in the first round.
The only other in-state team to beat Hamilton this year was Chandler Basha, 7-6, on March 31.
This was the first time Hamilton has been shut out.
“I was just trusting my pitches and letting my fielders work,” Carroll said. “I’ve been waiting to do that for my four years at Chap. I have not gotten the chance to pitch against them, so this means the most to me, because I knew that was going to happen.”
The only hits allowed were a triple to Prince DeBoskie in the second inning and a single to Ryan Kucherak in the fourth. He gave up a walk to Gavin Turley in the first for Hamilton’s only other base runner.
Carroll took a 4-0 lead before he faced Hamilton’s loaded lineup, after shortstop Liu Rodriguez hit three-run triple off the right-field wall. Rodriguez drove in another run in the fourth inning to make it 5-0.
Carroll struck out seven batters in the first three innings. “I was really working my two-seam fastball consistently and mixing in slider and changeup,” said Carroll, who has signed with the University of Arizona.
In Perry’s win over Alhambra, Stephen Hernandez held the Lions to two hits and no earned runs in six innings. He struck out six.
Catcher Jeremy Sprague was 2 for 4 with an RBI, along with Cade Lacy.
Alhambra plays at home Thursday at 4 p.m., against No. 11 Phoenix Brophy Prep in an elimination game. The Lions likely will come back with Marco Pacheco, who pitched a 2-0 shutout against Desert Vista in the first round Saturday.
Brophy eliminated No. 13 Mesa Mountain 5-3 on Tuesday.
Monday’s games
Top-ranked Poston Butte was baffled by Scottsdale Saguaro freshman lefthander Cam Caminiti through the first four innings Monday.
Caminiti, already committed to LSU and the cousin to the late great Major League Baseball star Ken Caminiti, struck out 10 batters in the first four frames and limited Poston Butte to one run (on a steal of home plate).
But the 1-1 game quickly turned into a rout with a big fifth inning as the Broncos scored seven runs and beat the Sabercats 8-3 in the second round of the 4A state baseball tournament.
Poston Butte (28-2) advances to the winner’s bracket of the double-elimination tournament to play Wednesday against fourth-seed Canyon del Oro at 6:30 p.m., at Tempe Diablo Stadium.
Caminiti left earlier in the inning and was charged with just one run.
The big blow came off the bat of Ethan Hatch, who ripped a three-run shot off the wall at Diablo Stadium.
Earlier in the inning, catcher Roy Carrasco drove in a run with an RBI double off of Caminiti to give Poston Butte a 2-1 lead.
“The comeback was a massive group effort where we got contributions from the entire team,” Hatch said. “Roy jump-started the inning for us. Genaro (Garcia) passed it along to me, where I was able to come through, as well. From there, we just kept rolling.”
Poston Butte has been an offensive machine all year. It was last season, as well, before the season ended in the semifinals. The Broncos are poised to go the distance this time with Hatch leading the way.
Hatch came into the game with 52 RBIs and 13 doubles, sporting a .547 batting average.
The Broncos survived an 8-7 win over No. 16 seed Cottonwood Mingus in the first round just to keep their season alive.
“This is what we worked for all season and now that we are within reach, we want to go get it with everything we’ve got,” Hatch said.
Canyon del Oro (21-7) edged defending state champion Gilbert Mesquite 2-1, as Chris Humphreys and Dominic Felix drove in CdO’s only runs.
Felix got the win, pitching the distance, giving up six hits, striking out six and walking one.
In other 4A second-round games:
Sahuarita Walden Grove (26-3) beat rival Sahuarita 4-2, setting up a winner’s bracket game Wednesday against Tucson Salpointe Catholic, a 7-6 winner over Scottsdale Notre Dame.
Notre Dame scored six runs in the second inning, sparked by Christopher Gaudio’s grand slam, to take a 6-2 lead. But Salpointe rallied with a run in the second, three in the fourth and a walkoff run in the bottom of the seventh.
5A
Cruz Oxford worked out of a basesloaded jam in the sixth inning, and Peoria Sunrise Mountain held off Waddell Canyon View 2-1 to move into the winner’s bracket of the double-elimination tournament.
Oxford pitched six innings, giving up no runs and walking four and striking out three, giving up three hits. Alex Sanderson gave up a run in the seventh but got the final out for the save.
Sunrise Mountain scored a run in the first and third innings with Ryne Palmer driving in both runs.
The Mustangs play top-ranked Nogales on Thursday at Diablo Stadium. Canyon View is at home Thursday to try to stave off elimination against defending state champion Scottsdale Desert Mountain, which fell to top seed Nogales 5-1.
Queen Creek Casteel (15-15), which played one of the toughest schedules in 5A, advanced to the winner’s bracket with a shocking 7-1 win over No. 2 seed Phoenix Horizon. Sophomore left-hander Mason Russell, a University of Arizona commit, kept Horizon batters in check after the first.
Buckeye Verrado (23-5) will face Casteel on Thursday after shutting out Tucson Catalina Foothills 3-0. Verrado scored a run in the first, another in the third and again in the fifth.
Horizon plays host to No. 11 Catalina Foothills on Thursday at 4 p.m., in an elimination game.