Mesa Baseball looks to stay hot as they host Chandler-Gilbert on Friday

Friday April 12, 2024 - 10:20 a.m. | Dylan DeVlieger

Mesa Baseball looks to keep their winning ways going over the weekend as they will take on Chandler-Gilbert in a home and home series on Friday and Saturday.

Coming into action on Friday Mesa holds a 28-16 record (16-14 ACCAC) while the Coyotes are 27-14 (16-12 ACCAC). This will be the second series between the teams; Mesa took both of the first games back on Feb. 16 (7-3), and 17 (6-5 in 13 innings).

The T-Birds are 5-1 in the month of April. Mesa picked up a big win over No. 4 DI opponent Central Arizona College on March 30 and a doubleheader sweep of Cochise College on April 3. MCC since then has earned a clean sweep of Glendale, outscoring the Gauchos 20-3 in their two games while also defeating Paradise Valley 8-2.  

Mesa has separated themselves from Paradise Valley and Glendale in the Region I DII standings as they are in sole possession of the No. 2 seed and have a four game cushion over the Pumas and a five game separation with the Gauchos. MCC does have the opportunity to take over the No. 1 seed as they are currently tied with CGCC in the win column and if they're able to take the series this weekend would set themselves up to claim the top spot once the postseason begins on May 5.

The T-Bird pitching and defense has been much improved as of late allowing just seven  runs in their last six games while shutting out both the Apaches and Gauchos in one of their two contests.

William Fife currently holds the 2nd best ERA in the conference (1.77), Eric Nachtsheim is 5th in the conference in strikeouts (67), and Christian Woodward leads the ACCAC in saves with 9 as the second place holder has five saves on the year. 

Woodward had a standout performance against Central Arizona College on March 30 as he pitched three and a third scoreless innings striking out five batters while picking up the save.

Mesa was clicking on all cylinders during their 11-0 rout of Glendale on Wednesday as they had 14 hits with four being for extra bases. When the T-Birds had runners in scoring position they took advantage as Josh Degroot (3), Mason Shea (2), Nolan Hamilton (1), Bret Housel (1), Jake Vrlak (1), Nolan Hamilton (1) all drove in runs for Mesa.

Mesa will host the Coyotes on Friday (first pitch at 3 p.m.) and will hit the road on Saturday to finish the series (first pitch at 12:00 p.m.).

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