6A baseball: Queen Creek HR eliminates Chaparral

April 25, 2019 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Chaparral's sixth pitcher of its continued 6A play-in game with Queen Creek at high noon Thursday was hard-throwing Clark Candiotti. 

Candiotti hit a batter in the ninth inning where the game resumed from its 4-4 tie, but fanned all three hitters. He looked dominant.

But one pitch in the top of the 10th met solid contact - as in home run to left. 

Queen Creek's Cade Myrick hammered a fastball up in the zone to break the tie and freshman pitcher Sebastian Tomerlin threw two innings of scoreless relief as the No. 21 Bulldogs edge the #12 Firebirds, 5-4, at Chaparral.

Queen Creek becomes the fifth low seed in the tournament to win a play-in game. Queen Creek will face No. 2 Hamilton on Saturday in the first round of state.

Candiotti fanned four in two innings of work and the lone hit he allowed was the home run. Tomerlin issued one walk and eventually picked that runner off first. He yielded a leadoff double in the bottom of the 10th, but escaped by striking out the side.