Glendale Mountain Ridge got another great effort from a pitcher on the mend Friday and forced a second straight game against No. 2 Chandler Hamilton to decide which team advances to the 6A state baseball final.

Junior right-hander Zach Rogers bounced back from a rough outing in the first round of the playoffs coming off an injury and had his best stuff in Mountain Ridge’s 4-1 win over Hamilton at Tempe Diablo Stadium on Friday.

Rogers gave up four hits in 5 1/3 innings, before submarine pitcher Brock Peery came on. Peery pitched well, but he hit his pitch limit with an 0-2 count on Dustin Bermudez with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.

Coach Artie Cox replaced Peery with Matthew Martinez, who needed just one pitch to get Bermudez to ground out and end the game.

No. 14 seed Mountain Ridge (18-14) and Hamilton (24-7) return to Tempe Diablo Stadium for Saturday’s semifinal. The state championship game is Tuesday at 7 p.m.

“This is the position we were in last year,” Cox said. “We lost the first one and had to come back out. We’ll see what happens. This team has been battling and grinding.”

Mountain Ridge came through a play-in game, beating Phoenix Brophy Prep, behind the return of pitcher Zach Martinez to its ace role.

Martinez, who was nursed along slowly during the regular season after an offseason back injury, has won three games in the playoffs. He’ll have a chance to go 4-0 in the postseason Saturday when he likely takes the ball.

Rogers had an injury in his upper back, and in his return against Phoenix Sandra Day O’Connor, lasted only 1 1/3 innings, giving up three runs on three hits and three walks.

But Mountain Ridge stayed alive by scoring seven runs in the final two innings to erase a 7-1 deficit.

Rogers said he feels he is back to full strength.

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“With these guys (Hamilton), you have to locate really well, because they’re obviously barrel on the ball hitters,” Rogers said. “Inside was the main key and soft away.”

Shortstop Travis Warinner, who has been clutch in the playoffs for the second year in a row, provided the main offensive punch for Mountain Ridge on Friday. He ripped a two-run double in the fourth, giving the Lions a 3-0 lead.

He added insurance in the sixth with a sacrifice-fly RBI.

“First pitch was a curveball in the dirt, and I chased it,” Warinner said about the double. “He came back with another curveball over the plate. I knew I had to drive it. I got it over the left fielder’s head for two runs.”

Hamilton will come back Saturday with Shane Murphy on the mound to try to get the Huskies back to the state final. Hamilton won back-to-back titles, before missing out on reaching the final last year.

“They played well and we didn’t play well enough,” Hamilton coach Mike Woods said. “Hopefully, we’ll find our bats, because we haven’t been swinging it very well.”

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at [email protected] or 602-316-8827. Follow him at twitter.com/azc_obert.

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