Tucson St. Augustine (9-5 in power-rankings games and 5-2 in section) and Pima (9-6, 3-3) are part of a group of teams fighting for an at-large invitation to the Division IV state playoffs.

The two schools met up Monday night at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson and Pima came away with an 8-7 win in eight innings.

In the relatively short decade or so of competition by St. Augustine, the Wolves have played in exactly two playoff games. The Wolves qualified in 2009 and again in 2011 and they find themselves in the hunt for another shot at postseason thanks to the ongoing dedication of head coach Dan Ramirez.

Ramirez has an enrollment of just over 100 students to draw from but he has managed to send a few of his athletes to the next level and, as he has pointed out, every player who has stayed in the program for four years has made the playoffs.

Ramirez needs to qualify this spring to keep that streak alive.

Pima has a much richer tradition with a state championship in 1978 but, like all small schools, success comes and goes. Greg Cooper took over in 2013 and guided the Roughriders to two state appearances including an incredible run his first year.

Seeded 17th, the Roughriders pulled off several upsets and made it to the semifinal round that spring before falling to eventual state champion Tucson Desert Christian.

This spring, however, Pima is on the edge of missing the playoffs based on current rankings. With only three games remaining on their schedule that count, the playoffs for the Roughriders began Monday when they took on St. Augustine.

St. Augustine appears to be safe with a high enough seed to get in but the school still has a couple of difficult games remaining and the Wolves made things more difficult with their heartbreaking loss.

The Wolves led 4-0 heading into the bottom of the fourth but Pima picked up a run in the bottom half and then five more in the bottom of the sixth to take a 6-4 lead.

Max Navarette held Pima without a hit until the third inning but the Roughriders scored an unearned run in the fourth after Aaron Medina drove in Travis James with a double. James had walked but two straight errors placed him at third base.

Navarette finished with three strikeouts and only two hits in four innings of work and Miguel Carbajal took over in the fifth. Carbajal shutdown the first four batters he faced but an infield error with one out in the bottom of the sixth proved costly.

Medina singled, Devon Kartchner tripled in two runs and Josh Whitaker would also triple in the inning. When it was all over, Pima had scored five runs with only one earned.

Meanwhile, Brad Woods was 3-for-3 with two RBI for St. Augustine but James settled down in the fourth and shutdown eight straight batters including striking out the side in the sixth.

St, Augustine came into the seventh down 6-4 but the Wolves tied things up after Woods reached on a hit-by-pitch and Carbajal doubled to put two on. Max Fimbres hit an RBI sac fly to bring in Woods and Ariel Jaime brought in Carbajal on a fielder's choice.

Fimbres took to the mound in the bottom of the seventh and he picked up two strikeouts to strand two Pima runners. Jose Manzanares reached on an error to put St. Augustine in business in the top of the eighth.

Jacob Codoner singled but James struck out the next two batters. Woods reached on an error to load the bases and Carbajal followed with a single to bring in Manzanares.

Down 7-6, Pima was in trouble after Fimbres picked up two quick outs but Brady Saline reached on an error and Justin Kartchner battled back from two strikes to deliver on an infield hit.

Manny Rivera walked to load the bases and James was walked to bring in Saline. Medina delivered the winning RBI for the 8-7 win.

St. Augustine will host Scottsdale Thunderbird Adventist (0-12, 0-6) on Wednesday and Pima will host Superior (7-4, 4-3) before taking part in the Morenci Invitational.