Special K's

 WELLTON - Jayson Koppinger was slowed by an arm injury at the start of the season and hadn't thrown in about two weeks.

 The Yuma Catholic senior marked his return to the mound Thursday with a record-breaking performance.

 Koppinger only allowed two hits and set a school record with 17 strikeouts to lead the Shamrocks to a 10-1 2A West Region victory over Antelope at Antelope.

 The previous YC record was 13 strikeouts.

 "That's as good a performance as you're going to see in high school baseball. That dude was just dominating," YC coach Tom Kandler said. "He hadn't thrown in about two weeks. I was a little worried he'd be too strong and I think he was, but it worked to his advantage...He was a little wild today, but it was effectively wild."

 The first 15 outs Koppinger recorded were by way of the strikeout. He walked three, and only surrendered one run on an RBI double by Chance Mixon in the third inning.

 "I pitched the first game, and then my arm hurt, so I had to sit out a couple weeks," Koppinger said. "But the last two games I came back and it's been feeling pretty good."

 Antelope coach Ron Bratton said Koppinger effectively changed speeds and kept his hitters off balance.

 "You're not going to win baseball games if you don't put the ball into play," Bratton said. "(Koppinger) did a very good job and deserves a lot of credit. We just scored 15 runs against Phoenix Christian, so we're capable of hitting."

 Six of YC's 10 runs were a result of the long ball.

 After a pair of walks and an error loaded the bases in the top of the first inning, Shamrocks' catcher Adrian Gutierrez smashed a grand slam to left-center field.

 Erick Martinez and Eric Garcia added solo shots in the third and fourth innings respectively.

 "We have a lot of power on our team," Kandler said. "Sometimes that's good, sometimes you wish you had guys who hit for a higher average. But it certainly was good today."

 Martinez and Gutierrez each went 2-for-4. Martinez reached base a third time on a drive to the fence in center that ended up going for an error. The Rams committed three errors in the game.

 Yuma Catholic came into the game ranked No. 4 in the AIA's 2A power points and Antelope was fifth.

 Roby Montgomery delivered a second-inning single for Antelope's other hit. Montgomery and Mixon each reach based twice.

 "Our kids fought, but they're just better than we are. The 3,4,5 hitters are the difference between their team and our team," Bratton said. "Their 3,4,5 hitters are college baseball players and if you make a mistake to them it's a home run, where if you make a mistake to ours it's a double or single.

 "I love the kids that I coach. We don't have the experience yet, but we're working on it."