Pima baseball lost its second game of the year to Duncan on Tuesday at home, but that isn’t the biggest loss the Roughriders have dealt with recently.

Pima junior Hunter Gojkovich badly injured his ankle in a motorcycle accident, and he will be unavailable for the rest of the year, which includes the 1A state playoffs.

“We will miss Hunter,” ‘Riders head coach Sean Lewis said. The right-handed pitcher not only led the team in wins (5) but was also Pima’s best hitter, according to Lewis.

Tuesday, however, it was the ‘Riders’ defense that let them down against the Wildkats.

The game was tied 1-1 in the sixth inning, but Pima took a 2-1 lead in the bottom half on a bases-loaded walk.

Adam Mendoza hit Duncan’s leadoff batter in the top of the seventh, and the runner tried to steal second. Pima catcher David Weech’s throw went into center field, and the outfield bobbled the ball, which allowed the runner to score and tie the game.

Left-fielder Pedro Vega made an outstanding catch on a dead run near the foul line to record the first out of the inning.

Mendoza struck out the next batter, and then everything went wrong for the ‘Riders. Mendoza hit another batter, and Duncan eventually loaded the bases with two outs.

Second baseman Jared Judd couldn’t corral a ground ball, and the Wildkats took a 3-2 lead. They went on to score four more runs in the frame.

“We played six great innings of defense and one bad one,” Lewis said.

Pima’s offense scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single by Weech and a bases-loaded walk by Devon Saline, his fourth walk of the game.

Duncan held on for a 7-4 win, largely due to the six errors committed by the Pima defense. It was evident Lewis thought the ‘Riders beat themselves for the second time this season against Duncan.

“I think we’re a better team than Duncan,” he said.

After the Morenci Lions Tourney, Pima has two more games before it heads to state as the No. 2 seed from the East.

Lewis is a bit concerned about his pitching depth without Gojkovich, but he said he’s comfortable going into state with a three-man rotation of Mendoza, J.J. Contreras and Vega.

“We’re working hard on defense to make up for our lack of offense,” Lewis said.

Lewis will use the Morenci tourney to gauge what kind of pitching he has for next season, but he wants the ‘Riders to be on top of their game both defensively and offensively to prepare for the playoffs.

The first state playoff game for Pima is May 2 at 5 p.m. at the Tempe Diablo Complex against either Mayer or Valley Lutheran.