In the race for berths in the Cal Pac Baseball Tournament, the Park University Gilbert baseball team kept itself in the hunt with a split of their first two games at Westcliff on Friday. The Bucs won game one 5-3 but fell in game 2 10-6 The Buccaneers are 13-10 in conference play and 19-24 overall.
Game 1 – Park Gilbert 5, Simpson 3
Behind a stellar pitching performance from Nick Marcon, the Buccaneers won the opener of the twin bill 5-3.
Marcon (2-2) went 8.0 innings, the longest outing by any Park Gilbert starter this season. He scattered eight hits and only allowed two runs. He struck out six.
The Buccaneers jumped on the board first, scoring three runs in the fourth. After Austin Chouinard was hit by a pitch to start the inning, Julian Garcia Schroeder doubled to drive him in. Joey Martinez followed with his own double scoring Garcia-Schroeder. Martinez advanced to third on an Aaron Lizarraga ground out before scoring on a wild pitch.
After the Warriors answered with a solo run in the fifth, the Bucs answered right back in the top of the sixth as Garcia Schroeder doubled for the second time in the game to lead off the inning. He moved to third on a wild pitch before Aaron Lizarraga drove him home with an RBI single.
The Garcia Schroeder/Lizarraga duo also provided the fifth and final run for the Bucs in the eighth inning. This time they reversed the hits. Garcia Schroeder led the inning off with a single and this time Lizarraga drove him in with a double.
Aaron Gutierrez came on in the ninth to close things out, he did allow a run, but still picked up his team leading fourth save.
Garcia Schroeder went 3-4 for the game with three runs scored and an RBI. Lizarraga was 2-4 with two RBI. Aaron Stinnett also had a multi-hit day getting two hits. Of the nine Park Gilbert hits, six of them were for extra bases.
Game 2 – Westcliff 10, Park Gilbert 6
The tail end of the double dip got off to a rough start as Bucs starter Luke Richards struggled out of the gate, surrendering four runs in two-thirds of an inning, and had to be pulled in favor or Joseph Chavira.
The second inning was not any better for Chavira. He yielded three more runs and the Bucs were down 7-0 out of the gate.
The Buccaneers finally got on the board in the fourth, as a Chouinard single and an Alex Stinnett double plated courtesy runner Chris Amador. After an error Stinnett scored on a Garcia Schroeder ground out to pull the Bucs back within five.
Another Stinnett double in the fifth tacked on an additional run as he drove in his brother Aaron Stinnett.
The Bucs pitching staff could not stem the tide of the Warrior bats as Westcliff added additional runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to extend the lead.
The Bucs tacked on two late runs in the ninth on a Joey Martinez double, but it would not be enough as the Bucs lost by four.
Richards (2-4) takes the loss on the mound. At the plate Alex Stinnett went 4-5Â with two doubles and two RBI.
These two teams will meet in the rubber game of the series Saturday evening starting at 7 p.m. Aaron de Groot will take the hill in an attempt to win the series for the Bucs.
