One pitch away. In baseball with one pitch you can turn a double play to get you out of an inning when you've been struggling. One pitch can determine whether you remain in the game or get pulled from it. And one pitch can be the margin between winning and losing. On Friday afternoon, the Park University Buccaneers (2-3) were one pitch away from upsetting the No. 25 team in the country Benedictine Mesa (2-0). With a 3-1 lead, the bases loaded, two outs and an 0-2 count on three hole hitter Alex Dodd, relief pitcher Frank Racioppo could not hold onto the lead as he gave up back-to-back singles which allowed three runs to score and the Buccaneers lead to slip away as they fell 4-3 to the Redhawks.
"That is a tough one to lose." said Buccaneers head coach Kelly Stinnett. "We played a solid game today and I could not be more proud of how this team competed."
Benedictine got on the board first when the plated a run in the second off of Park Gilbert starter Luke Richards. The Buccaneers answered in the fifth. Matthew Armendariz led off with a single to left. With two outs, a Redhawk error on a Rodney Emerald grounder kept the inning alive and rightf fielder Bryce Beck made them pay with a double down the left field line which plated both baserunners.
It remained a 2-1 game until the ninth. The Buccaneers plated what seemed to be an insurance run in top half of the stanza. After a Hugo Acosta single, he moved to second on a pickoff throw and then scored on a Armandariz single to center. Then disaster struck in the bottom half of the inning.
The inning started with a strike out and everything looked like it was trending in the right direction. But there is a reason coaches tell their teams the last three outs are the hardest to get. A single soon followed, then a hit batsman.on a 3-2 pitch put runners on first and second. Then Rucioppo, struck out Benedictine lead off hitter Gianny Galvez to put the Bucs one out away. Rucioppo walked two hole hitter Jeremy Williams on five pitches to set up the Redhawks with the bases loaded. Dodd came to the plate and after struggling to throw strikes to Williams, Rucioppo got Dodd down 0-2. But it was not to be. Dodd threw the bat at a pitch well outside the zone for a single to right which scored two and knotted the contest at 3-3 while Williams adcanced to third. Extra innings still could have been on the horizon but cleanup hitter Casey Lederman made sure it wasn't as he promptly knocked a single to center to end the contest in walk off fashion.
Buccaneers starter Luke Richards went 2 2/3 innings allowing four hits and the sole run in the second. Freshman hurler Adrian Gamez had his second outstanding outing, throwing 3 1/3 innings of relief without allowing a run. At the plate Armendariz had two hits and an RBI, while Beck drove in the other two runs. Rucioppo (0-1) takes the loss in relief.
Park Gilbert has an opportunity to finish the Maricopa Cup on a positive not as they take on Ottawa (Ariz.) tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. at Tempe Diablo. Jair Reyes will get the start for the Buccaneers.
