This is baseball. Known as a game of second and third chances, the Salpointe Lancers lost 6-3 at No. 21 Sahuaro on Thursday but then turned around to defeat No. 3 Canyon del Oro 13-3 Friday night at home in only five innings of work. The Lancers remained near the top of the 4A rankings at No. 6 after the loss to the Cougars on Thursday and we will have to wait until the playoff brackets are released next week to see how this all plays out because the regular season ends on Tuesday are there will be no power-ranking updates the rest of the way.

The Play-In Tournament for 2A through 6A is slated for Wednesday, April 24 for teams ranked 9-24 and the first round of the 4A Conference is scheduled for Saturday, April 27. The tournament will be double elimination beginning with the quarterfinal round.

Canyon del Oro (15-2 in ranking games) still leads the 4A Kino Region over Salpointe (14-3) by one game after the Dorados beat the Lancers in the first region meeting on April 12 combined with Salpointe’s loss to Sahuaro. The Dorados can wrap up the region title on Monday night at No. 27 Pueblo (7-9) to end their regular season. Salpointe is done with region play but a trip to No. 11 Walden Grove (10-7) on Monday will have playoff implications as far as seeding goes.

Grant Young. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

 

In the game on Friday, The Dorados took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first after the team worked the bases full with one out on an RBI walk issued to Tarrell Reid. Salpointe pitcher Shawn Barros was able to work out of that jam and he helped himself in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI with two outs to tie the game up 1-1.

The Lancers took control in the bottom of the second with six runs and then four more in the third and two more in the fourth. Grant Young had a solo shot for the Dorados to lead off the third inning and the team added another run in the fourth after working the bases loaded with no outs but Barros held firm again to limit the damage to the one run.

Barros threw 4.1 innings with four strikeouts and Ronan Baker finished the game for the Lancers. Barros went 3-3 with a double and five RBI, Jose Simon went 3-4 with a double and two RBI, Rowan Sparks went 2-2, Lucas Shannon had a double and three RBI, Colton Raetzman and Adan Koch Rodriguez each had an RBI.

For the Dorados, Regen Mazura, Adrian Encinas and Sean Young saw pitching action. Grant Young went 2-3 with a home run and Michael Jones had an RBI.