The rubber game of this three game conference series saw a match-up of two of the top pitchers in the Cal Pac Conference. The reigning Cal Pac pitcher of the week Aaron de Groot for Park University Gilbert (12-10, 9-3) and Kyle Huett who sported a 4-1 record coming in for the University of Saint Katherine (26-16, 10-8). de Groot won the pitching duel and the Buccaneers took the series on the road from the Firebirds with a 7-4 win.
"Another solid performance from de Groot," said Buccaneers head coach Kelly Stinnett. "He controlled the tempo of the game and Bustillos came in and shut them down."
Closer Diego Bustillos who had not pitched in the series entered the game in the seventh with Bucs holding a two-run lead. Bustillos proceeded to throw three scoreless innings, allowing only two hits and struck out three as he picked up his fifth save on the season.
Park Gilbert built a 6-1 lead with three runs in the first and three runs in the fifth. The Buccaneers jumped on top via a three-run home run from Bryce Beck in the first. Alex Elizondo walked and Diego Bejarano followed with a double which moved Elizondo to third. Beck then crushed a 1-0 fastball over the right field fence to give the de Groot an early lead.
de Groot cruised for three scoreless innings before surrendering a run in the fourth. The Bucs answered right back with three more in the fifth. Alex Stinnett led off the inning with solo blast to right on the first pitch he saw. Bejarano singled, followed by a Firebird error which allowed Beck to reach and Bejarano to scamper to third. Andrew Dresden then singled to score Bejarano and move Beck to third. The designated hitter and game one winning pitcher Frank Racioppo hoisted a sacrifice fly to right which scored Beck.
Through five innings de Groot had only allowed four hits and struck out eight. But he found trouble in the sixth. Back-to-back singles started the inning followed by a three-run home run by Casey Peterson to cut the lead to two. de Groot settled down and sat down the next three batters to get out of the innings without any more damage, but that was it for de Groot and set the stage for Bustillos' closing heroics.
Bejarano and Beck both had multi-hit games, while Beck and Stinnett had three and two RBI's respectively.
The Buccaneers close out the regular season with a four-game set with in-town Cal Pac rival Benedictine-Mesa next weekend, starting with Senior Night on Friday, April 30 at Scottsdale Stadium. Senior festivities will start at 6 p.m. with the game having a 7 p.m. first pitch. The remaining three games in the series will be played at Indian School Park, with a double header on Saturday and a non-conference game on Sunday to finish.
