Catalina knocked Arcadia from the 4A-II baseball playoffs Saturday with a first-round, 3-1 victory in Tucson.

The Trojans broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the sixth inning to advance.

Aaron Esquivel led off the sixth with a single and moved to second on a bunt single by Alex Meza. Arcadia starter Thomas Schellhardt then fielded a bunt by Anthony Romero and threw to second to force out Meza. After a groundout moved Romero to second, Barry Earnhart knocked an RBI single to the outfield. Romero scored a batter later on a wild pitch to give the Trojans a 3-1 lead.

Schellhardt picked up the loss despite pitching well for the Titans. He allowed two earned runs and struck out four over six innings.

The Titans struck first, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. Mike Scannell led off the inning with a single and moved to second when Brendan Satran reached base on an error. After Max Schuman flied out, Preston McClain hit a single to load the bases. Eddie Lyon then plated Scannell with a sacrifice fly to center.

Catalina responded with a run of its own in the fourth. Nicco Blank singled leading off the inning. After Julian Daniels walked, Schellhardt picked off Blank at second.

The Titans nearly avoided any damage in the inning when Daniels was then thrown out at third attempting to advance on Robby Pearson’s double to left. However, the Trojans still managed to push one run across after Arcadia shortstop Jake MacWilliam made a nice stop on an Esquivel ground ball over the middle but threw the ball past first base. Pearson scored from second on the play.

Despite the early success at the plate for Arcadia, Catalina starter Blank mystified the Titans for most of the rest of the game. He earned the win, allowing one earned run over six innings. He struck out eight.

The Titans nearly put together a rally in the bottom of the seventh against Trojan closer Romero.

After two quick outs, MacWilliam was hit by a pitch and quickly advanced to second on a passed ball. After MacWilliam moved to third on a balk, Romero forced Schellhardt to ground out to second to earn the save.