Box Score

The Park University Gilbert baseball team had a golden opportunity to take a series from a team ahead of it in the standings, but faltered after taking an early 6-0 lead to fall to Embry Riddle 10-7 in 10 innings at Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa, Ariz.

The Bucs jumped out quickly in the first, batting around against ERAU starter Jesse Kaphing putting six runs on six hits on the board. The big blow was a three-run homer by Gino Caperon. But Kaphing settled down after the rocky first and only allowed one hit before he was pulled in the fifth inning with two outs.

The Eagles came back against the Bucs in chunks. The first chunk was a grand slam in the top of the second after two walks and a single loaded the bases and then a three-run shot in the fifth erased the lead completely.

Then it became a battle of the closers. For Embry Riddle it was Jonah Montes and Noah Tschopp for the Bucs it was Adrian Gamez and Diego Bustillos.

The Bucs were able to get a run in the seventh against Montes as Jesh Leckey singled with two outs and moved to second on a wild pitch. Matthew Seibold reached on a fielding error by Drew Barragan and then Montes suffered a bout of wildness, walking Brendan Blakeman and then hitting Christian LaPierre with a pitch to bring home the tying run.

Gamez kept the Riddle bats in check 2,1 innings, striking out three. Bustillos and Tschopp came on in the ninth. Bustillos tossed a 1-2-3 top of the ninth and then the Bucs had their opportunity in the bottom half against Tschopp.

Blakeman doubled with one out down the left field line on a hanging slider. He then advance to third on a passed ball and things were looking up. Embry Riddle was forced to bring its infield in to cut off the possible winning run which is what they were able to do. LaPierre hit a sharp ground ball to Barragan at short. Blakeman was running on contact but the throw was right on the money to catcher Kevin Fedoruk who applied the tag to effectively end the rally.

Embry Riddle then started the next inning with back-to-back singles off of Bustillos. ERAU then attempted to sacrifice bunt with Luke Jepsen. Bustillos fielded the bunt and had a play on the lead runner at third, but he misfired on his throw to Nick Miller and sent the ball careening down the left field line in foul territory. This allowed not just one but both runners to come around to score. Jepsen was thrown out attempting to reach third on the play. ERAU tacked on one more run in the inning which made a comeback even more daunting against the hard throwing right hander Tschopp.

The Bucs managed to put two runners on as Miller was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Then after a Caleb Rozier line out to first, pinch hitter Diego Bejarano worked a walk. To bring the tying run to the plate in the person of Caperon who had homered earlier in the contest. Tschopp was able to get him to pop out on the infield and then struck out Leckey to end the game.

Bustillos (0-2) took the loss on the mound, while Tschopp (2-1) got the win. At the plate, Rozier, Leckey, Blakeman and Shane Erickson each had two hits. Caperon had three RBI and Erickson two.

The Bucs now have a week off from conference play. They were initially scheduled to face Antelope Valley next weekend, but with the UAV having to close its doors and sunsetting its programs, those games were cancelled. The Bucs have picked up a double header next Friday, April 5 against SAGU-AIC at Arizona Athletic Grounds. The first game is slated to start at 10 a.m.