BASEBALL PLAYOFFS: Catalina Foothills fighting for a first-round bye

April 24, 2015 by Andy Morales, AZPreps365


Jim Baldwin (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

Tucson Catalina Foothills has been a consistent presence in postseason play. Except for the 2012 season where the Falcons dropped eight of their last nine games to fall out of contention, one would be hard pressed to point to a "bad" season over the last decade or so.

The Falcons have made it to the championship game four times since 2002 with the last chance taking place in 2010 under Lance Robertson. So close to winning it all but not quite there.

Jim Baldwin took over in 2013 and has compiled a 58-24-1 record with back-to-back second round finishes. A longtime respected youth softball and baseball coach, Baldwin is set to take another real shot at the Division II title.

Catalina Foothills has beaten top-ranked Tucson Salpointe two out of three times this year but the two wins came during invitational play which means they are not reflected in the power rankings. Still, the two wins indicate the skill level and coaching is in place for a postseason run.

The real trick to success, however, is to earn a first-round bye and then get past the second round and into double-elimination. Anything is possible in double-elimination.

Catalina Foothills has the third toughest schedule according to the MaxPreps ranking formula. That, and 11 wins in ranking games, has put the Falcons on the edge of a top-eight ranking and a first-round bye. That is where the Falcons need to be and they took one step in that direction by defeating Marana Mountain View 10-0 in five innings on Friday night.

Mountain View (9-17) has had four winning records since 2005 and first-year coach Steve Elmore will lose half of his team to graduation. Elmore was a proven winner at San Manuel so it's only a matter of time before the Mountain Lions become competitive in one of the most difficult sections in the state.

Catalina Foothills junior Chandler Thomas improved to 5-0 after limiting Mountain View to two hits. As a testament to the future of Mountain View, sophomore shortstop Gabe Gordon picked up both of those hits with his second being a double.

Senior Dominic DeNiro went 2-3 with a double and three RBI. His brother Anthony scored the winning run and their freshman brother Dante picked up an RBI single.

As we noted during the preseason Cowboy Up Tournament, it is very rare for three brothers to be in the starting rotation of a "big" school program.

Eric Mercer and Cody Treatch took the mound for Mountain View.

Catalina Foothills will visit Canyon del Oro (25-2) on Tuesday before hosting Oro Valley Ironwood Ridge (19-7) on Wednesday. That's as hard as it gets and it will be a good test.