After a 20-game slate of matchups outside its new section, the Mingus Union High School baseball team is still undefeated in the state. Their wins have led to a No. 1 Division II seed in the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s power rankings from Tuesday, April 8.
The Marauders [18-2-1] enter their first season of full-time play in Division II, Section V with a spotless record against teams in their home state after dropping Blue Ridge High School in a doubleheader, 11-1 and 10-0, accumulating 10 victories by run-rule in the process — including their sole sectional game to date March 21, a 11-0 home shutout of Kingman High School.
But just because half their games have been won by 10 runs or more in less than seven innings doesn’t mean they haven’t been tested, as head coach Bob Young would assert.
“If we need to go seven, we can go seven,” he said. “Those early-season tournament games, they tested us.”
Those games also were the only blemishes on the MUHS record, as losses to two Colorado high schools March 25 and 27 and a 1-1 tie March 15 in a tournament game in California are all that keep the Marauders from being 21-0 going into a home tilt Friday, April 11, with Flagstaff High School.
“We never really look at the win-loss record,” Young said. “We look at the improvement from week to week. This is the 10th week since we’ve started practicing, and we’ve gotten better most every week.”
For the full story, please see the Wednesday, April 9, issue of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
