By Don Ketchum

Peoria Sunrise Mountain’s baseball team wanted to atone for a loss to Scottsdale Saguaro in last year’s Class 4A Division I state championship game, but never did the Mustangs dream that it could be like what occurred on Wednesday night (April 4).

Sunrise Mountain rolled to a 15-5 victory over the Sabercats at the Peoria Sports Complex in a game that was shortened to six innings because of the 10-run rule.

The Mustangs (16-4) collected 12 hits, but it was astonishing that two-time defending champion Saguaro (17-6) committed eight errors.

Sunrise Mountain was coming off an emotional loss to neighborhood rival Peoria Liberty on Monday (April 2), followed by a win over Glendale Cactus on Tuesday (April 3) to set up the game against Saguaro.

“Our plan coming in was to put pressure on their defense, run more, put the ball on the ground as much as we could. We were able to do that,’’ Sunrise Mountain coach Eric Gardner said. “Every game, we give out a game ball to someone who excelled for us, but this time the game ball went to the team. It was an entire team effort.’’

He admitted that his players “circled this game on our schedule. To win this is a big confidence-booster.’’

Sunrise Mountain will be heading to southern California next week for the National Classic Tournament in the Anaheim-Fullerton area and will play several national-caliber teams.

The Mustangs had a 5-0 lead after two innings, but Saguaro pulled to within 5-4 by scoring four times in the top of the third.

“They (Saguaro) can swing the bats. It is hard to get the top four guys (in the batting order) out. You just have to try to minimize what they do as much as you can,’’ Gardner said.

Sunrise Mountain right-hander Seth Martinez came through with a gutty pitching effort, scattering eight hits before departing when he gave up a leadoff double in the sixth.

In addition to taking Saguaro’s best shot, Martinez took a good shot from his own catcher, Adam Webb. A throw from Webb back to the mound in the fourth skipped off the ground and scraped Martinez’s lip. After being tended to by medical personnel, Martinez continued.

Brick Paskiewicz also had a big night for the Mustangs. He had four hits as the leadoff man, including a triple, and pitched the sixth inning in relief of Martinez.

Saguaro’s leadoff man, Zach Gibbons, had a pair of hits and scored a run, but appeared to twist his left ankle while coming out of the batter’s box on a ground ball in the sixth. He tried to go back out to his position in center field in the bottom of the sixth, but was removed by coach Ryan Dyer as a precautionary measure.