Baseball: Red Mountain edges Campo Verde, 3-2

March 23, 2016 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365



Pitching appears to be in abundance  this season for many of the top Division I baseball teams. Red Mountain and Campo Verde are two not short of a handfull of good arms.

On Wednesday afternoon, Red Mountain's Marcus Christy prevailed in a duel with Campo Verde's Cooper Wiliams and Hayden Udall as the Mountain Lions hung on late for a 3-2 win in a Division I game at Campo Verde.

Christy, who sat out last season after transferring from Skyline, was a skosh better than the Williams-Udall combo. Christy had a no-hitter going for four innings and other than a pair of first-inning walks, was consistent in keeping Campo Verde off-balance while pounding the strike zone. Red Mountain improved to 13-4 overall and 4-1 in power-ranking games. Campo Verde, competing this season for the first time in D-I and in arguably in the toughest of the division's three sections, lost its first power-ranking game of the season. The Coyotes are 11-4 overall and 5-1 in prg. 

"Marcus Christy was outstanding," Red Mountain coach Ross Pagel said. "He was on a roll today. And we got a couple guys who we're counting on to get a couple hits each. It's good to see because I don't think we've played our best baseball yet." Christy allowed five hits, walked two and fanned 10. Both runs he gave up were unearned. He is 3-0 on the season with a couple no-decisions.

Christy got run support a little at a time as Red Mountain scored single runs in the third, fourth and fifth. Doubles by Sam Berry and Mack Klafter off Campo Verde starter Cooper Williams broke a scoreless tie in the third. Williams' fourth walk in his four-innings of work opened the Red Mountain fourth. That runner scored on AJ Karim's double -- the second of three his for Karim on the day. -- making it 2-0. Two Campo Verde errors in the fifth gave Red Mountain its final run with an RBI going to pinch-hitter Josh White.

With three runs to work with, Christy seemed aware he had a no-hitter going. Udall, who relieved Williams in the fifth, led off the fifth with a well-placed chopper between Christy and first base. The best Christy could do was dive and smother the ball with no play -- an infield hit. He later escaped the inning with a double-play grounder.

Campo Verde pulled within 3-2 in the sixth. A solid single to center by Jack Hettich and a two-out error led to back-to-back RBI singles by Zach Bain and Isaiah Garcia.

Christy secured the first two outs in the last of the seventh, but  single to center by No. 9 hitter Jadon Solomon kept Campo Verde ticking. Hettich was then hit by a pitch putting the winning run on base. Christy notched the final out striking out William for the third time-- this time on a 3-2 pitch.

Williams was at around 90 pitches when he exited after the fourth. He lost for the first time this season and is 3-1. He allowed two runs, five hits, walked four and struck out eight. Udall allowed two hits and an unearned run in three innings of work.