There was a lot to celebrate on Friday night at Scottsdale Stadium as the Park University Gilbert baseball team's game was preceded with a celebration of the school's graduating seniors. Unfortunately, senior night was almost the extent of the celebration, as the Buccaneers dropped game one of their final series to Benedictine Mesa, 13-3.

Three pitchers saw the mound on Friday night starting with Frank Racioppo, who only managed two innings before he was on the receiving end of four Redhawks runs in the second inning. 

He was relieved by Nic Villarreal who had by far the best performance by a Buccaneers pitcher of the night; he stopped the bleeding by pitching three shutout with just three hits, but a wild throw by Andre Avalos led to two unearned runs and dug the hole even deeper.

Matthew Medina pitched the final three innings of the game and bore the brunt of the Redhawks' run scoring. Medina managed to strikeout a team-high four, but scattered eight hits as the Redhawks tacked on six more runs.

Down 8-0 in the seventh inning, the Buccaneers loaded the bases and had a chance to put some substantial runs on the board, but they only managed one run when Alex Elizondo's single sent Matthew Armendariz home.

In the eighth inning, Bryce Beck and Andrew Dresden scored off of a single by Julian Garcia-Schroeder and Alex Stinnett reaching first base on a fielder's choice, but it was too little, too late.

The Buccaneers will move back to their regular home at Indian School Park tomorrow for a 2 p.m. doubleheader with Benedictine Mesa.