Chacon stymies San Luis bats in Cibola win

Martin Chacon did Tuesday what Kofa and Yuma High couldn't do Saturday - shut down the San Luis offense.

The Cibola starter threw seven innings, scattering six hits and not walking a batter as the Raiders topped the host Sidewinders 6-1 in a non-region battle between the two teams.

"I did the best I could to do to help keep my team in the game," Chacon said. "I was confident enough to throw strikes and (let them) put it in play, let my defense get outs for me."

The Raiders (5-7) scored two runs in the first, aided by three Sidewinder errors. Both runs charged to Sidewinder ace Juan Ortiz were unearned, as were three of the five he gave up in his six innings. Miguel Corral led the game off with a ground ball through the legs of the San Luis third baseman, and the defensive woes didn't stop there.

Krysthian Leal had an RBI single in the inning, and Nowlin drove him home with a double.

"It started from the very first play of the game we weren't mentally ready," San Luis coach Cesar Castillo said. "From there on it added on and we didn't recover off of that. Our pitching wasn't what we are used to seeing. It's hard to spot a team a couple runs and come back and chip away."

San Luis (9-3) gave up another in the second when Corral's single scored Tyler Parmenter. San Luis got on the board with a RBI single in the fourth from Juan Martinez, but Cibola added one in the fifth and two in the seventh on a double by Chacon.

"We came out, played a little small ball and hoped for a base hit," Cibola coach Duane Evans said. "We got a couple hits to help us get ahead, we stayed ahead and that's what we wanted to do."

Chacon struck out three in the game and the Raiders committed one error in the contest.

"He's not overpowering, but he kept them thinking, kept them off balance, and got a lot of ground balls," Evans said. "He didn't let the heart of their lineup hurt them."

Benito Garcia's sixth-inning double was the Sidewinders' only extra-base hit and one of just four times they got a runner into scoring position. Aldo Munoz had two hits for San Luis. Nowlin had two hits and drove in two for Cibola, which had eight hits in the game.

The Sidewinders were fresh off a victory at the Cibola Baseball Invitational this weekend, lighting up Kofa for nine runs in the semifinals Saturday and Yuma High for nine more in the championship game.

"They had a good guy on the mound. He knew exactly what he was doing," Castillo said. "Chacon was able to come out throwing his offspeed pitches and chasing on hitters' counts. Their defense wanted it and made the plays. They were hungry for it and it showed."