No. 3 Desert Christian scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat No. 7 St. David 6-5 to take control of the 1A South Region with a little over two weeks remaining in the regular season. The program beat St. David 5-2 earlier in the season, making this the first season sweep of the Tigers since the Eagles were moved to the 1A Conference from the 2A Conference in 2021.

St. David was 6-0 against Desert Christian entering this season and the last time Desert Christian beat St. David was in 2015, in the tail end of a dominating three-year state championship run from 2013 to 2015. St. David won the previous championship in 2012. The Tigers have 18 state titles starting in 1965 and the last came in 2021, only Tucson High has more with 29.

Owen Judd. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

 

Down 5-3, the Eagles scored a run in the bottom of the sixth on a one-out triple from Caden Esquerra that was followed an error with two outs. Desert Christian turned a double play to keep the game close in the top of the seventh where Joseph Serrano connected on a leadoff double. Serrano advanced to third base on the play and then Ethan Craig brought him in to tie the game up at 5-5.

Austin Yarger was walked two outs later and then Caden Esquerra was walked to load the bases. Craig came home from third on a passed ball for the 6-5 victory.

St. David scored a run in the top of the first on a passed ball, allowing pinch-runner Mason Dever to score and another run in the top of the second after Cooper Merrill was hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded to score Cedar Haynie. The Tigers went up 4-0 in the top of the fourth with two outs and two on - Merrill singled in Haynie and Luke Haymore brought in Vincent Yaeger.

Desert Christian responded with three runs in the bottom half of the fourth after Bennett Vondrak doubled with one out, Yarger singled and then moved to second on an error that scored Vondrak and then Esquerra reached on a fielder’s choice to put two on. Cooper Payne scored Yarger on a groundout to make it 4-2 and then Esquerra scored on a passed ball to cut the lead down to 4-3. St. David went up 5-3 in the sixth inning after Haymore knocked in Merrill on a bases-loaded groundout.

Vondrak continued his assault at the plate by going 2-4 with a triple and a double for Desert Christian. Esquerra went 2-3 with a triple and Craig went 2-4 with an RBI. Esquerra got the start and he went four innings with seven strikeouts and Yarger got the win in the last three innings of work with three more strikeouts.

Owen Judd threw six innings for St. David with six strikeouts and Merrill finished the game. Haymore went 2-2 with an RBI. Emmitt Etter hit a double and Merrill collected two RBI.

Desert Christian is now 11-0 in ranking games and the team hosts No. 26 Patagonia (1-8) on Monday and St. David (8-5) hosts No. 6 San Manuel (8-2) on Wednesday. The top two teams in each of the four 1A regions will earn an automatic playoff berth and St. David and San Manuel are now fighting for that second bid, assuming Desert Christian continues to win.

Bennett Vondrak. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)