Printable VersionMESA — The Tigers will have a chance to defend their state title.
 David Bell/News-Herald Photo, File. Telesis’ Jay Nelson pitches against Tempe James Madison, during a home game at SARA Park, on April 2. On Thursday, he defeated the Patriots for the second time this year, pitching the Tigers to a 13-2 win in a semifinal game in the Arizona Charter Athletic Association 2A Division playoffs, at Red Mountain Sports Complex, in Mesa. |
The Tigers will face their Mohave County rival, Bullhead City Mohave Accelerated Learning Center, in the championship game Saturday, after MALC defeated Scottsdale Foothills Academy, 6-5, in the other semifinal game Thursday.
MALC is the No. 1 seed in the tournament with a 13-2 overall record while Telesis is No. 2, at 12-2.
Saturday’s championship games for the 1A and 2A Divisions were originally scheduled to be played in the Phoenix area, but with all four teams in the finals coming from Mohave County — Kingman Academy High School Black and KAHS Blue both won 1A Division semifinal games Thursday — the CAA has opted to move both title games to Kingman.
The Telesis-MALC game will be played at 2 p.m. at Kingman’s Southside Park.
Telesis head coach Craig Bolton said he thinks Mohave County’s dominance in baseball — both Telesis and KAHS won state titles last year — comes down to one key factor.
“There are a lot of talented ball players down here (in the Phoenix area). But I think a lot of it comes down to quality, experienced coaching,” Bolton said. “Both MALC and Kingman Academy have quality coaches that know the game.”
Jay Nelson got the win Thursday, tossing a two-hitter. He also gave up three walks while striking out eight over three innings of work. The two James Madison runs were unearned, following a walk and an error in the third inning.
Austin Knight, the winner of the quarterfinal game, tossed a 1-2-3 inning of relief, striking out two.
The Tigers scored four in the first inning, six in the second and three in the third.
“Offensively, the whole line up put the bat on ball,” Bolton said. “That’s what we want going into Saturday’s game against MALC.”
David Gilliam led the way with a 2-for-3 day, notching two RBIs on an inside-the-park home run. Cameron Hoover, Javaree Thompson, Knight and Jon Uffers all went 2-for-2 while Nelson finished the day 2-for-3
Bolton said Ernie Celon will get the start Saturday; the third time he’ll face MALC this year.
In the season opener, March 20, MALC scored four unearned runs on three hits and three walks in a game that ended in a 4-4 tie. On April 30, Celon gave up one earned run on three hits and five walks to MALC in another game that ended in a tie, 1-1.
Under CAA rules, the score reverts to the last completed inning in which one team held a lead, so both games went down as loss for Telesis, the only losses of the season for the Tigers.
“MALC has seen Ernie a lot this season but they didn’t do anything against him. He throws well against them,” Bolton said. “And Jay was fired up and ready to go tonight. So I wanted to keep Jay under 50 pitches so he could be available Saturday if we need him. And Austin threw just 11 pitches so he’s available too.
“Now we have to finish it,” he continued. “We’re happy to be there (in the title game) but we have to get the job done. We’re going to bring it and bring it hard.”
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