YUMA, Ariz. - The Arizona Western baseball team (18-3, 4-2) swept a three-game series at home against ACCAC rival Eastern Arizona and extended their conference win streak to four with a tense 3-2 victory on Saturday afternoon thanks to a late seventh-inning rally.

The game started as a pitcher's duel, with both teams held scoreless through three innings. Eastern Arizona opened the scoring with a run in the top of the fourth, but the Matadors answered in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at one. Gila Monsters' starter Shaveh Sarono was dominant, striking out 10 batters over five innings.

The game remained deadlocked until the bottom of the seventh when Arizona Western broke through for two runs to take a 3-1 lead. Jamie Beerman provided the key offensive spark, finishing the day with two hits and two RBIs. Beerman drove in Luis Acosta in the fifth inning to tie the score at one, then gave the Matadors their first lead by driving home Acosta gain in the seventh inning. 

"At the end of the day you have to have a full line up," Matador head coach Jon Wente said. "You have to have some other guys pull the rope and I don't know if Jamie Beerman is a true number eight hitter. The way we construct our lineup, trying to stay balanced, it just works out that way."

Eastern Arizona mounted a comeback attempt in the ninth inning, cutting the deficit to 3-2 on a solo home run from Tristan Fielder. Matadors' reliever Filippo Baldassarri earned the win after tossing four strong innings, and Gregorys Mateo recorded the final out to secure his second save of the season. Luis Acosta scored two runs for the Matadors, and Ten Shindo added two hits and an RBI which turned out to be the game winner in the seventh inning. 

In the three games against Eastern Arizona, the Matadors pitching only allowed two runs.

"We've been talking about how to play when the games are a little tighter," Wente said. "We kind of needed to play some of those games. We certainly need to clean some things up but proud of the last two games winning 2-0 and 3-2, being able to stay focused and make some plays on defense. Make some pitches on the mound and I think getting some balls in play at the right time to seal those games."

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The Matadors hit on the road to Glendale, Arizona, for a non-conference matchup against Arizona Christian University JV on Monday, March 9th, then return home to face the White Rock Titans, a travel team from Canada on Wednesday March 11th. 

"We need to play some guys," Wente said. "We had some conference games and Cochise College put it on us early, kind of punched us. We had to fight to get off the mat so to say. Our last two games have been close, so we need some other guys. We need to find what our true lineup is, what our true roles in the bullpen are, we have some guys that need to pitch. So, it's a true opportunity to play some guys and get a feel for what this team is."