To say that the Park University Gilbert baseball teams' 13-9 loss to the University of British Columbia in 12 innings today was heartbreaking would be an understatement. It was a gut punch, followed by a knee to the jaw and hammer fists to the head while lying on the ground. The Buccaneers held a six-run lead early in this contest at Tempe Diablo Field #2, but walks and errors allowed the Thunderbirds to not only get back in the game, but ultimately come out on top.
The Buccaneers (0-2) jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two innings as they jumped on Thunderbird starter Ryan Beitel to the tune of nine hits and six runs in the first two frames. At this point, the Bucs seemed to be in control. Park Gilbert starting pitcher Joseph Chavira cruised through the first three innings allowing only one hit.
But things started to tighten a little in the fourth, as a lead off walk generally gets you in trouble, and it did for Chavira as he allowed two runs on one hit, and had two wild pitches before he was pulled in favor of Connor Barton who got out of the jam with the Bucs still holding a four-run advantage.
Park Gilbert tacked on a run in the fifth on an Austin Chouinard RBI single, one of five knocks and two RBI on the afternoon for the Bucs catcher. They also added a run in the sixth on an Aaron Stinnett single.
But the sixth is where UBC started to make its comeback bid. Barton who had been throwing well, was betrayed by his defense as an error started a Thunderbird rally. Without the error, Barton runs through the sixth 1-2-3. With the error, a walk and a hit by pitch led to a 2 RBI single with plated two unearned runs.
The seventh didn't start well for Barton as he allowed back to back singles to start the inning. A spectacular diving stab by Aaron Lizarraga at third got the first out of the inning, but Barton was pulled at this point for southpaw Paxton Prentice making his Bucs debut. Prentice showed some nerves, struggling to find the strike zone walking the first two batters he faced which brought in a run, then he got a ground out, which also scored a run. Prentice walked another batter before a hurling a wild pitch which allowed the third run of the inning to score. It was now a one-run ball game.
In the eighth, the Thunderbird knotted the contest at 8-all on a sacrifice fly and the early lead had completely dissipated.
After the sixth the Bucs bats went silent. They had an opportunity to plate a go ahead run in the bottom of the eight with runners in scoring position with the top of the order at the dish. Julian Garcia-Schroeder struck out and Alex Stinnett popped out.
The Bucs had an opportunity to walk off a win in the bottom of the ninth as Chouinard led off the inning with a single. Logan Livingston courtesy ran for him and after DJ Downen struck out, Livingston swiped second. A walk and a hit by pitch later, the bases were loaded with Bucs and Aaron Stinnett launched a drive into the right center gap which looked to get down and the Bucs started celebrating a walk off win, but Thunderbirds centerfielder Brandon Hupe made a spectacular grab to rob Stinnett and Bucs of a win.
The next two innings saw both teams unable to score against each team's respective closers. The in the 12th inning a leadoff walk started the downfall for Bucs reliever Aaron Gutierrez. He managed to get the next batter out, but then an error by Lizzaraga at third led to the Bucs having to intentionally walk a batter to load the bases and then an error on a tailor made double play ball by Joel Adamson at second allowed the Thunderbirds to take their first lead and it open the flood gates. A single scored two more runs and chased Gutierrez in favor of Chase Provencio who was greeted by the triple by UBC leadoff hitter Mike Fitzsimmons which finished the five-run inning for the Thunderbirds.
It was a lead that the Bucs could not overcome. They put one run up in the bottom half of the inning, but it was not enough as they fell 13-9.
Park Gilbert out hit UBC 17-7, and worked 12 walks, but the Bucs left 19 runners on base for the game which ultimately was its undoing.
Every starter in the Buccaneer lineup had at least one hit, with Alex Stinnett (2), Chouinard (5), Diego Bejarano (2) and Aaron Stinnett (3) posting multi-hit games.
On the mound, the Bucs also struggled with control walking nine batters and only striking out eight. Because of the errors, only six of the 13 runs scored by the Thunderbirds were earned. Gutierrez (0-1) is the hard luck loser in this game, despite an outstanding pitching performance in relief.
The Bucs get two days off to stew over the game before getting another crack at UBC as they will face them again on Monday, Feb. 7 at 3 p.m. at Tempe Diablo.
