The Park University Gilbert baseball team came into this game not having played competitive baseball in almost a month. No. 19 Benedictine Mesa was coming off a weekend of playing two ranked teams. Benedictine took advantage of the Buccaneers rust to take a 7-2 win on a chilly evening at Gene Autry Park in Mesa, Ariz.
For the Buccaneers, the rust came in form of walks and errors. The Buccaneers pitching staff surrendered six free passes and the defense made five miscues
"You can't give a team like Benedictine that many opportunities," said Buccaneers Head Coach Kelly Stinnett. "You do not win ballgames when you make that many errors and give a good hitting team nine free bases (six walks, 3 hit by pitch) without making them earn it."
Tonight's game saw three new faces in the Buccaneers lineup we did not see in the opening series against Taylor. CF Andre Avalos, 2B Andrew Dresden, and DH Andrew Zavala.
Dresden had two hits and scored both runs for Park Gilbert on the night for a solid debut. RF Bryce Beck drove Dresden in with his first hit of the season, a triple over the right fielders head in the bottom of the second. SS Julian Garcia-Schroeder got Dresden in with a ground out in the seventh. The Buccaneers struggled to put the ball in play again with only five hits and 15 strikeouts on the night.
On the mound, lefty Nic Villareal (0-1) got the starting nod, but struggled from the start, allowing two runs (one earned), three hits and three walks in two innings of work. He took his first loss of the season. Frank Racioppo came on for the next two innings, giving up three runs and four hits. Zachary Swanson allowed the final two runs in 1/3 of an inning where he walked three batters.
The final four hurlers for the Bucs kept the Redhawk bats in check over the last four innings, allowing only four hits and no runs. Diego Bustillos made his 2021 debut, throwing 2/3 of an inning. Matthew Medina gave up two hits, but worked out of jam in the sixth, his only inning. Sidearmer Skylar Waynick threw a scoreless seventh and Meno Mata a scoreless eighth in their inaugural outings of the season.
Now, the Buccaneers will have to wait almost another two more weeks before getting another shot at the Redhawks in a non-conference matchup with their conference rival on Tuesday, March 2 at 6 p.m. at Gene Autry.
