Baseball: Arcadia rallies to edge Campo Verde, 9-6

March 27, 2017 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Arcadia's baseball team dug deep to extend its winning streak on Monday. The Titans found a way with guys not generally hitting or pitching standouts paving the way.

After falling behind 5-0 after two innings, Arcadia did most of its damage in the sixth and seventh to post a 9-6 win over Campo Verde in a 5A contest at windy Campo Verde High.

Arcadia improved to 10-6 overall and 7-0 in power-ranking games. A big chunk of that  power-ranking success has come in the victory streak that reached seven with Monday's four-run rally in the seventh inning. Campo Verde is 9-7 overall and 4-2 in power-ranking games.

Arcadia's unlikely heroes were the No. 8 and No 9 hitters in its lineup -- Jack Walshiire and Jackson Westhoff, respectively. They combined for five hits and six RBI and hit their first home runs of the season. On the mound it was junior Max Reidy.

Walshire doubled his hit total for the season to four with a solo homer to left in the fourth and a tie-breaking RBI single in the seventh. Westhoff had three hits. The big ones were a two-run homer to right in the sixth that pulled Arcadia within 6-5. Westhoff's two-run triple in the seventh put the cap on the game-winning rally and gave the Titans breathing room to finish. Connor Denning notched a save after escaping a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the seventh.

Walshire, who was the DH until the he came on to face two batters, got the win by getting the final out of the sixth with a strikeout.

Picking up the pitching staff was Reidy. Reidy had appeared in four games this season and worked a total of 3 2/3 innings before Monday. He relieved  taking starter Ryan Bolden in the third and allowed just one run in 3 2/3 nnings of work.

Arcadia's hot streak began with wins in its final two games of the Boras Classic it co-hosted with Corona del Sol the second week of March. The Titans have added five power-ranking wins to that. They have a tough week remaiining with three more games this week -- Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The same goes for Campo Verde, which has games Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.  Three-game weeks are a little more common come late March. Four-game weeks are best avoided.  Campo Verde used six pitchers -- none throwing more than two innings. The Coyotes had four players with two hits apiece -- Jarrett Wolfe, Brayden Campbell , Garret Thornton and Justin Springborn. Thornton had a first-inning home run and two RBI.