Extra work pays off for Cornman in Arbor View victory
Nick Cornman wasn’t happy with his effort in Arbor View’s win Monday in the opening round of the Mountain Region baseball tournament.
A late-night hitting session paid off.
The San Diego Christian-bound second baseman went 3-for-3 to lead Arbor View’s 11-hit attack in a 13-6 home victory over Cimarron-Memorial in a winner’s bracket semifinal Tuesday.
The Aggies (23-9) will visit Las Vegas (24-7) in the winners’ bracket final at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Cornman, who is hitting .338 with 11 extra-base hits, had a single, double and triple, stole a base and scored three times to boost the Aggies’ potent offense.
“It was going to the cages after the game yesterday and really getting that swing down and really just grinding before this game,” said Cornman, who also contributed defensively with three assists and two putouts. “Just keep grinding, don’t stop, it’s playoffs, you can’t take the day off.”
Jesse Pierce went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs for Arbor View. Brad Stone was 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI and Niles Scafati-Boyce stroked a triple off the wall during a seven-run third inning that helped seize momentum for Arbor View.
After erasing a 4-1 deficit early with its seven-run outburst and clinging to an 8-6 lead, Arbor View tacked on five runs in the bottom of the sixth to put the game out of distance.
“We had a little bit of a tough inning, and we bounced back,” Aggies coach Jordan Salazar said. “These guys have done it all year. They find ways to stay positive and fight through those times. For us to come and put that (seven) spot up, and kind of get our momentum going was huge.”
Aggies reliever Payton Brooks threw three innings of two-run ball to get the win. Jalen Haener closed things out to earn the save.
“We were very confident because we knew that our pitching was going to do what it had to do,” Cornman added. “Our bats were already hot, so we basically did what we had to do to get the win.”
Lawrence Campa was 2-for-3 with an RBI, and Ethan Daniel scored twice for Cimarron (18-12), which will visit Rancho (15-12-1) in an elimination game at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.
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