Saint Augustine visits Morenci on Thursday

By Raymundo Frasquillo

MORENCI – Saint Augustine Catholic (4-15) visits the Christopher Aguallo-coached Morenci Wildcats (13-14 overall) on Thursday, April 24. It is the final regular-season contest for both teams.

Desert Christian (5-3), Santa Rita (1-7), and San Miguel (0-8) have each completed region schedules.

Other pairings for South Region members (April 24-28) include Benson at Bisbee and Willcox at Tombstone on Friday, April 25.

Non-region pairings include Empire at Desert Christian on April 25.

The region pairings for East Region members are San Tan Charter at Lincoln Prep, San Tan Charter at Lincoln Prep, Chandler Prep at Gilbert Classical, San Carlos at Miami on April 25, and San Tan Charter at Pima and Lincoln Prep at Chandler Prep on Monday, April 28.

Non-region pairings include Queen Creek Benjamin Franklin at Chandler Prep and Pima at Phoenix North Valley Christian on April 24; Miami at Eloy Santa Cruz on Saturday, April 26; and Arete Prep at Gilbert Classical on April 28.

2A South Region Standings

South Region standings through April 23 have Bisbee (22-3 overall, 17-0 seeding, 7-0 region) first, Benson (13-13-1, 11-5, 6-1) second, Tombstone (16-7-1, 12-4, 5-2) third, Tucson Desert Christian (9-10, 7-9, 5-3) fourth, Willcox (9-13-1, 8-8, 4-3) fifth, Morenci (13-14, 8-9, 3-4) sixth, Tucson Saint Augustine Catholic (4-15, 4-12, 2-5) seventh, Tucson Santa Rita (1-9, 1-9, 1-7) eighth, and Tucson San Miguel Catholic (1-15, 1-15, 0-8) ninth.

San Miguel forfeited its final four games with Morenci (April 16), Santa Rita (April 22), Tombstone (April 23), and Bisbee (April 28).

Region game results to date include Bisbee over Desert Christian (15-5 in 5 inn, March 24), Morenci (13-1, April 1), Santa Rita (27-1 in 5 inn, April 4), Saint Augustine (5-4, April 8), Tombstone (7-5, April 18), Willcox (18-2 in 5 inn, April 22), and San Miguel (1-0, April 28); Benson over San Miguel (16-1 in 5 inn, March 27), Santa Rita (21-1 in 5 inn, April 1), Desert Christian (12-4, April 4), Willcox (12-2 in 6 inn, April 8), Saint Augustine (7-5, April 16), and Morenci (4-3, April 22); Tombstone over Morenci (14-1 in 5 inn, March 24), Saint Augustine (16-2 in 5 inn, April 1), San Miguel (15-0 in 5 inn, April 4), Benson (10-0 in 6 inn, April 10), and Santa Rita (16-0 in 4 inn, April 14); Desert Christian over Santa Rita (18-1 in 4 inn, March 27), San Miguel (25-4 in 5 inn, April 1), Tombstone (8-2, April 8), Willcox (9-1, April 16), and Saint Augustine (15-0 in 5 inn, April 22); Willcox over Morenci (11-2, March 27), San Miguel (13-0 in 5 inn, April 3), Saint Augustine (4-2, April 4), and Santa Rita (13-0 in 4 inn, April 11); Morenci over Santa Rita (17-2 in 5 inn, April 8), San Miguel (1-0, April 16), and Desert Christian (14-8, April 17); Saint Augustine over Santa Rita (34-15, March 24) an San Miguel (29-16 in 5 inn, April 10): and Santa Rita over San Miguel (1-0, April 22).

2A East Region Standings

East Region standings through April 23 had Gilbert San Tan Charter (16-1 overall, 13-1 seeding, 4-0 region) first, Chandler Lincoln Prep (9-9-1, 8-8, 4-0) second, Chandler Prep (14-4, 11-4, 3-1) third, Pima (8-9-1, 6-7-1, 3-2) fourth, Gilbert Classical (7-10, 7-10, 2-3) fifth, Miami (1-18, 1-15, 0-5) sixth, and San Carlos (0-12, 0-12, 0-5) seventh.

Results of region games to date are San Tan Charter over San Carlos (17-0 in 4 inn, March 24), Chandler Prep (3-1, April 3), Gilbert Classical (14-0 in 5 inn, April 14), and Miami (25-1 in 5 inn, April 16); Lincoln Prep over Miami (10-0 in 6 inn, March 21), Gilbert Classical (1-0, April 1), Pima (5-4, April 14), and San Carlos (14-1 in 5 inn, April 22); Chandler Prep over Miami (14-1 in 5 inn, March 19), Pima (3-1, March 28), and San Carlos (24-0 in 4 inn, April 9); Pima over Gibert Classical (9-7, April 9), Miami (13-0 in 5 inn, April 11), and San Carlos (11-3, April 16); and Gilbert Classical over Miami (14-4 in 5 inn, March 28) and San Carlos (19-6 in 5 inn, April 3).

2A State Rankings

The state rankings for South Region members as of noon on April 23 had Bisbee (16-0 seeding, 19.2832 rating) No. 1, Tombstone (12-4, 9.9317) No. 5, Benson (11-5, 7.2045) No. 8, Morenci (7-9, 2.5288) No. 16, Willcox (8-8, 0.8573) No. 22, Tucson Desert Christian (7-9, 0.8201) No. 23, Tucson Saint Augustine Catholic (4-12, minus 5.8817) No. 32, Tucson Santa Rita (0-9, minus 14.4586) No. 33, and Tucson San Miguel Catholic (1-10, minus 14.8959) No. 41.

Rankings for East Region members had Gilbert San Tan Charter (13-1 seeding, 13.8362 rating) No. 2, Chandler Prep (11-4, 6.4868) No. 10, Pima (6-7, minus 1.7462) No. 19, Chandler Lincoln Prep (8-8, minus 0.7008) No. 25, Gilbert Classical (7-10, minus 3.4185) No. 29, Miami (1-14, minus 9.5426) No. 36, and San Carlos (0-12, minus 16.1996) No. 44.

No. 32 Saint Augustine Wolves (4-15 overall)

The Daniel Ramirez-coached 2A South Region Wolves (4-15 overall, 4-12 seeding, 2-5 region) are averaging a 6-9 (120-173) score per game or a 3-run deficit through 19 games.

Saint Augustine has seeding game wins over Santa Rita (21-0 in 4 inn, March 3), Santa Rita (19-2 in 5 inn, March 24), Tucson Palo Verde Magnet (7-2, March 28), San Miguel (17-1 in 5 inn, April 11) along with losses to Tombstone (5-16 in 5 inn, March 6), Desert Christian (1-6, March 11), Benson (4-18, March 17), San Manuel (1-8, March 18), Empire (4-11, March 20), Saint David (6-8, March 25), Tombstone (2-16 in 5 inn, April 1), Willcox (2-4, April 4), Chandler Prep (12-16, April 7), Bisbee (4-5, April 8), Benson (5-7, April 16), and Desert Christian (0-15 in 5 inn, April 22).

Additionally, a 0-3 record was posted during the 4-day Desert View tourney, with losses to Rincon/University (2-9 in 6 inn, Feb. 26), Eagar Round Valley (1-11 in 5 inn, Feb. 27), and Texas El Paso Andress (7-18 in 6 inn, March 3).

The Wolves have an 18-member team, with a roster of a senior, four juniors, four sophomores, and nine freshmen. The roster includes seniors Diego Perez (4); juniors Gus Alcantar (10), Owen Ernle (23), Joaquin Garcia (41), and Alex Martinez (40); sophomore Sergio Cordova (24) Nico Martinez (8), Micah Perez (5), and Michael Rodriguez (0); and freshmen Max Aldana (98), Gabriel Dominguez (21), Sergio Lopez (99), Patrick Manriquez (2), Peter Martinez (97), Illian Olguin (96), Che Robles (28), Manny Rocha (16), and Johnny Samaneigo (1).

Saint Augustine competes in the nine-member 2A South Region with Benson, Bisbee, Morenci, Tombstone, Willcox, and Tucson schools, Desert Christian, San Miguel Catholic, and Santa Rita.

No. 16 Morenci Wildcats (13-14 overall)

The Christopher Aguallo-coached 2A South Region Wildcats (13-14 overall, 8-9 seeding, 3-4 region) are averaging a 5-7 (139-178) score per game or a 2-run deficit through 27 games.

Morenci has seeding game wins over Pima (5-2, March 11), Eagar Round Valley (19-18, March 19), Phoenix Country Day School (10-9, April 5), Santa Rita (17-2 in 5 inn, April 8), Miami (7-1, April 12), Willcox (7-1, April 14), San Miguel (1-0, April 16), and Desert Christian (14-8, April 17) along with losses to Saint Johns (5-6, March 17), Eloy Santa Cruz (2-12 in 6 inn, March 20), Tombstone (1-14 in 5 inn, March 24), Willcox (2-11, March 27), Bisbee (1-11 in 6 inn, April 1), Bisbee (1-13 in 5 inn, April 1), Winkelman Hayden (3-12, April 3), Pima (7-8, April 7), and Benson (3-4, April 22).

The Wildcats went 2-3 during the three-day Florence tourney and 3-2 during their three-day tourney. Morenci defeated San Tan Valley San Tan Foothills (4-3 in 5 inn, Feb. 27), Holbrook (3-2 in 5 inn, March 1), Holbroo k (2-1 in 5 inn, March 6), Heber Mogollon (6-5 in 5 inn, March 6), and Saint Johns (9-4 in 4 inn, March 7), and fell to Safford (0-9 in 4 inn, Feb. 27), Superior (1-7 in 4 inn, Feb. 28), San Manuel (1-2 in 5 inn, March 1), Mogollon (6-7 in 5 inn, March 7), and Holbrook (2-6 in 6 inn, March 8).

A 17-member roster includes seniors Peyton Basteen (25), Christopher Carbajal (8), Bryant Figueroa (2), Alejandro Gonzalez (24), Jeremy Knutsen (16), Christopher Lopez (3), Jordan Romero (20), Shane Seballos (7), Omar Torres (10), Marques Varela (23), Jonathan Vasquez (22), and Jacob Verdugo (1); juniors Michael Chavez (33), Jaymz Guzzo (4), Manuel Medina (12), and Anthony Roybal (34); and sophomore Matthew Aguilar (5).

The Wildcats compete in the nine-member 2A South Region with Benson, Bisbee, Tombstone, Willcox, and Tucson schools, Desert Christian, Saint Augustine Catholic, San Miguel Catholic, and Santa Rita.