Jordan Zimmerman had ten hits and five RBIs in the series.
Jordan Zimmerman had ten hits and five RBIs in the series.

Late burst by Phoenix ends baseball's season, 12-8

  MESA, AZ - Phoenix scored ten of its 12 runs in the final four innings and eliminated Mesa from the Region I playoffs with a 12-8 victory Saturday.

  The T-Birds' season comes to an end with a 37-20 record.

  MCC jumped out quickly, grabbing a 5-0 lead after two, but couldn't keep the Bears offense in check in the late innings.

  Mesa got its first run in the first inning when Alex Gudac (So., West Jordan, Utah/Juan Diego Catholic H.S.) walked and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Brady Bate (Fr., Spanish Fork, Utah/Spanish Fork H.S.).

  It was in the second when MCC appeared ready to take control by scoring four.

  Jordan Rose (So., Trementon, Utah/Bear River H.S.) singled and Casey Moses (So., North Las Vegas, Nev/Centennial H.S.) walked. After both moved over on a wild pitch, Drew Lawrence (Fr., Anthem, AZ/Boulder Creek H.S.) drove in Rose with a sacrifice fly and Jordan Zimmerman (So., Mesa, AZ/Red Mountain H.S.) crushed a three-run homer to lift MCC to a 5-0 lead.

  The Bears answered with two in the third, but the T-Birds got one back in the sixth when Mitchell Morimoto (Fr., Issaquah, Wash/Issaquah H.S.) singled and came home on a double by Jacob Boston (Fr., Chandler, AZ/Hamilton H.S.).

  The Bears then unleashed the first of two big innings staring in the sixth when they scored four to tie the game, highlighted by a two-run homer by Joseph Hernandez-Ito.

  PC picked up what would be the winning run in the eighth, but then put things almost out of reach with a five-run ninth as Nick Rosales delivered a two-run homer.

  Although down six, MCC wasn't going to quit. Lawrence and Gudac singled with Lawrence coming all the way around to score on Gudac's hit when the ball got past left fielder Bodie Bryan. Zimmerman then doubled to pick up his fourth RBI of the game. Despite hitting several ball hard later in the inning The T-Birds could only put two on the board, falling 12-8.