The Park University Gilbert baseball team overcame a 10-run deficit to beat Benedictine Mesa 13-12 at Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Chandler, Ariz. This was the first game of a double header as both teams opened up Cal Pac Conference play.

The Redhawks jumped out to an 11-1 lead behind five runs in the first, four in the second and two more in the third off of Buccaneers starter Frank Racioppo.

But the Buccaneers had an answer with one in the third on back-to-back doubles by Aaron and Alex Stinnett.  Aaron extends his hitting streak to eight games which is tied for the third longest streak in Buccaneers history.

In the fourth, the Bucs tacked on one more on another Aaron Stinnett two-out single to score Logan White who led off the inning with a hit and moved to second when Cade Maestas was hit by a pitch.

The big inning was the fifth for the Buccos.  They scored eight runs in the fifth to cut the lead to one.  It started with Austin Chouinard being hit by a pitch. Then right fielder DJ Downen took a 1-2 pitch deep over the wall in right for his second home run of the season to cut the lead to 11-4. JJ Martinez followed with a single to right to keep the rally going.  White and Maestas walked to load the bases and chase Benedictine starter Justin Bates.

Jay Evans came in for the Redhawks and proceeded to walk Julian Garcia Schroeder and pinch hitter Joey Martinez to bring in two more runs. Redhawks coach Brian McCabe made another pitching change to bring in left hander John Luca Moschetta to face the top of the Bucs lineup where three of the first five hitters are left-handed and a fourth, Downen is a switch hitter.

Moschetta threw a breaking pitch in the dirt which got away and allowed Maestas to score on a wild pitch. He then walked Aaron Stinnett to reload the bases.  Moschetta continued to struggle with his control as he threw another wild pitch to allow Garcia-Schroeder to score the Bucs sixth run of the inning.  He then induced Alex Stinnett to hit a ground ball to second baseman Jalen Faison who misplayed the ball and to allow Stinnett to reach first. Martinez scored the seventh run on the ground ball and Aaron Stinnett advanced to third.  As he rounded third, Faison tried to throw behind him to pick him off and threw the ball down the line in left which allowed Aaron Stinnett to score the eighth final run of the inning. At this point there was still no one out in the inning, but the Buccaneers were unable to tack on any more runs in the frame. The Bucs had cut a 10-run deficit to one.

Connor Barton was brought in to relive Racioppo in the bottom of the fifth and threw three scoreless innings to keep the Redhawks on the number at 11 to give the Park Gilbert hitters a chance to add on.

They did that in the sixth as they tied the score on back-to-back singles by Garcia-Schroeder and Joey Martinez to set the Bucs up with runners on the corners.  Then an Aaron Stinnett ground out scored Garcia-Schroeder.

The Buccaneers took the lead for good in the eighth when Aaron Stinnett hit his first career home run, a two-run shot to right to give the Buccaneers a 13-11 advantage.

Buccaneers head coach Kelly Stinnett then brought in right hander Jose Zubia making his first appearance in a game since February 28, 2020 when he threw 2/3 of an inning against San Diego Christian.  Zubia was one of the Bucs closers in 2020 and he if he was nervous coming in to close out his game in 371 days, he did not show it. He sat down the Redhawks in the eighth in order with two strike outs.  The ninth was a little more hair raising as he allowed a lead off single, before getting a 6-4-3 strikeout to get the first two outs in the inning.  BENU then had a single, hit by pitch and a single to cut the lead to one.  But Zubia was able to strike out James Rosenhagen to end the game and give the Bucs their second win of the season.

Six Buccaneers had multi-hit games with Aaron Stinnett leading the way going 3-5 with a double, a home run and four RBI.  His brother Alex also had two hits, both doubles and two RBI. Chouinard also had three hits as he continues to be one of the best hitters in the country this season. Downen had two hits and a home run, and Garcia Schroeder also had two hits for the game.

Barton gets his first win on the season.  Zubia picks up his first save since February 6, 2020, against Ottawa, (Ariz.).

The Buccaneers and Redhawks will play the make up game for their rained-out contest from Friday night tomorrow, Sunday, March 6 at 2 p.m. at Tempe Diablo ahead of the Bucs non-conference contest with Clarke