The Park University Gilbert baseball team split a doubleheader with the Simpon University Redhawks losing game 1 11-6 and winning game 2 11-4. The Buccaneers are now 14-21 on the season with a 10-8 mark in the Cal Pac Conference.
Game 1: Simpson 11, Park Gilbert 6
The forecast looked good for the Buccaneers coming into game one. After needing just four pitchers to get through yesterday's two wins, head coach Kelly Stinnett had the majority of his pitching staff at his disposal- including ace, Aaron de Groot.
Things went as planned in the first four innings, as they scored two early runs. In the second and fourth innings, Julian Garcia-Schroeder led off with a deep triple to right and single. Joey Martinez drove him home both times with a single and double of his own.
Meanwhile, de Groot had thrown four scoreless innings with three strikeouts against a Redhawks team that is very good at putting the ball in play. It was going so well that no one was warming up in the bullpen when the floodgates opened up and the Redhawks tagged de Groot for six fifth inning runs.
de Groot was forced to wiggle his way out of the inning as reliever Jose Zubia warmed up. He came on to start the next inning, but started a difficult stretch for the bullpen. Zubia, Aaron Gutierrez and Aaron Lizarraga's performances plus a pair of errors allowed five more to come across.
Those late runs put the game out of reach of the Buccaneers' late four-run rally- highlighted by an RBI-triple from Logan White and a two-run homer from Alex Stinnett launched onto Westcourt Way.
Game 2: Park Gilbert 11, Simpson 4
The fourth and final game of the series was a non-conference affair, that saw a few less familiar faces work their way into the Buccaneers' lineup. Among them was third baseman, Bradley Jolley, who led off the seven-run sixth inning with a ground-rule double to right and bulldozed around the bases for an RBI-stand-up, triple to finish the inning.
Mayson Rayburn, who pinch ran for Jolley on his first at-bat, scored on a sacrifice by Edgar Chacon and Matthew Armendariz came home via two wild pitches. Chris Amador showed off his speed in the inning, by capitalizing on an E6 to turn a double into three bases and score on a sacrifice by Diego Bejarano. Then, Trent Williams bulldozed around the bases to score a run off of JJ Martinez's single and Logan White singled to score Martinez.
That decisive inning put Luke Turner in line for the win, despite relinquishing the lead in the top half of the inning. Turner entered the game in the fifth in relief of starter Joseph Chavira, who had gone four scoreless to that point.
With an 11-4 lead, the Buccaneers turned to Francisco Mata to finish things off. He went three up, three down to finish the contest.
What's Next: The Buccaneers play a non-conference game on Wednesday at 5 p.m. against Arizona Christian at Tempe Diablo Stadium.
