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By Matt Hickman
Herald/Review
BISBEE — The Bisbee Copper Kings stormed to a pair of wins Friday night to keep themselves in line for a shot at the top seed for the Pacific Southwest Baseball League postseason tournament.
Sterling Schuller went 3-for-4 in the first game and 6-for-7 in the doubleheader to pace Bisbee, which defeated the Tucson Nationals 8-5 in the opener and 12-0 in the nightcap.
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“Not bad at all,” Bisbee manager Butch Hammett said. “But there’s still a lot of ball to be played. So far, so good. We hit the ball really well tonight.”
Willcox High alum Jason Kimzey got the start in the first game and clawed his way through six innings before turning things over to Robert Leigh who quickly shut down any Nationals’ thoughts at a comeback.
“Jason threw a lot of balls and walked a lot of people,” Hammett said of Kimzey. “But he worked his butt off and gutted his way through it.”
Chase Ruggeroli added a home run in the opener and Ben Seymour had two hits.
In the second game, Bisbee starter Tyler Johnson, a onetime Buena Colt who graduated from Chandler High, got plenty of offensive help early as he threw a one-hit shutout in the game that was shortened to seven innings because of the 10-run rule.
Former Cochise College star pitcher Jorge Martinez was roughed up by the Kings in game two, as Schuller went 3-for-4 and former Buena catcher Carlos Martinez went 2-for-2 with three RBI in relief behind the plate.
Tonight, the Kings go for the super-sweep against the Nationals, hosting another doubleheader at Warren Ballpark. Game one starts at 4 p.m. with the second game starting at 7.
The cost for admission is $5.
Next weekend, the Kings leave for Lake Havasu City for four games with the defending National Baseball Congress National Champion Havasu Heat.
The Heat are currently unbeaten in league standings and stand in line for the No. 1 seed for the league tournament which will send the winner to the national tournament in Kansas.
The Kings will host their own tournament over the Fourth of July weekend. Currently there are seven teams in the tournament field with Bisbee, Casa Grande, Phoenix-based Garden of Gears, the Tucson Nationals, a semipro team out of Nogales and two National Adult Baseball Association teams (Longhorns and Braves) from the Tucson area.
