AWC baseball preview

Scottsdale Community College at Arizona Western College (DH)

Time: Noon

Last game: The Matadors were swept by Scottsdale 2-0 (Game 1), 5-4 (Game 2)
Records: AWC (6-3 overall, 0-0 Arizona Community College Athletic Conference); Scottsdale (8-2 overall, 0-0 ACCAC)

Players to watch: The Matadors have a triple threat with Xavier Palmer, Casey Scott and Claudio Valencia in the lineup. Palmer is leading the Matadors with a .450 batting average which is the 7th best in ACCAC and also has three stolen bases.  Scott is sporting the most hits on the squad with 14 and is right behind Palmer with a .438 BA. Valencia has scored six times and has seven RBIs so far this season. ... Artichokes outfielder James Boddicker is leading the conference in RBIs with 10 so far this season. Boddicker is also second in hits with 18 and had a .462 batting average. Scottsdale reliever Bryan Sova has only four innings of work on the mound but has picked four saves in that time — which has earned him the top spot in the league in that category.

The lowdown: With only three days between the last time these two teams saw each other, both sides should be well aware of what to expect. Saturday’s game came down to errors — and who could capitalize off them. The Artichokes had four errors in Game 2 but the Matadors just weren’t able to take adavantage of them. But when AWC gave up two errors in the bottom of the 9th inning, the Artichokes took those and ran — across the plate. Scottsdale was able to capitalize off a passed ball and scored the winning run to top AWC. The Matadors have been playing well defensively but need to take extra caution not to crack under the pressure late in the game while facing Scottsdale again today.

— Capsules compiled by Erin Redmond