No. 3 Catalina Foothills beat No. 27 Maricopa 5-1 late Wednesday night to improve to 9-1 in ranking games and the Rams fell to 3-7. The victory also keeps the Falcons undefeated in the 5A Sonoran Regain at 4-0, one spot ahead of No. 5 Canyon del Oro at 4-1.

The Rams put two on to start the game on singles from freshman Sebastian Lopez and sophomore Travis Varela but senior pitcher Cole Pritz (2-1) induced a double play and then a groundout to get out of the half inning. The Falcons responded in the bottom half with two runs on two outs with a double from sophomore Alec Olivas, a sac fly RBI from senior Ganon Dwyer and solo shot from senior Cooper Kruk.

The Rams cut the lead down to 2-1 in the top of the third on an RBI single from senior Connor Jackson to score Varela but the Falcons got the run back with two outs in the bottom of the inning on an RBI double from Kruk to score Dwyer. The Falcons added two more runs in the fourth after a triple from senior Bryce Weege, an RBI double from junior Ethan McQuade and a wild pitch to score Pritz later in the inning.

Down 5-1, the Rams put two runners on in the top of the fifth with no outs on back-to-back walks but a pickoff at second base ended that threat. The game went quickly from there with only one runner between both squads the rest of the way.

Pritz threw four innings for the win and junior Alec Leyva threw the final three innings. Kruk went 2-3 with a home run, double and three RBI to lead the Falcons, Weege went 2-3 with a triple and McQuade had an RBI double. For the Rams, Jackson (1-3) took the mound, Varela went 2-3 and Jackson had an RBI at the plate.

Catalina Foothills beat Maricopa 5-0 on Monday to start the sweep of the series and now the Falcons will play two games against No. 11 Vista Grande (7-3) on April 11 and 14 and Maricopa will host No. 35 Mountain Pointe (1-10) on Friday in a non-region game.