YUMA, Ariz. – The Arizona Western Matadors Baseball team saw an early lead slip away in a 7-6 loss to Pima in game one of a best-of-three game series in the Region I semifinals on Thursday afternoon at Aztec Baseball field on the campus of Pima Community College.

Bronson Neave picked up a pair of hits and drove in two of the Matadors' six runs in the series-opening loss in Tucson.

The Matadors opened the scoring by taking a 4-0 lead in the first inning, grabbing the first run of the game on a Sergio DeCello ground out before Neave doubled in Nathan Houston to push the lead to 2-0. Taehyung Kim then tripled in the third run and later scored on an error to push the lead to 4-0.

Pima scored a run in the third inning and then took the lead for the first time thanks to a four-run inning of its own, taking a 5-4 lead in the fourth. The Aztecs tacked on a sixth run in the fifth to push the lead to two runs.

The Matadors battled back to tie the game in the sixth inning. Neave pulled the Matadors to within a run at 6-5 with an RBI double and Fausto Sanchez tied the game by adding the Matadors' sixth run on a single up the middle.

Pima scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and the Matadors were shut out over the final three frames in the loss.

Game two of the Region I Semifinals best-of-three series is Friday, May 3, and gets underway at 2:00 pm at Aztec Baseball Field in Tucson.