(Mesa, AZ) The Park University Gilbert baseball team played a solid game against one of the top teams in the country in Arizona Christian, taking them to extra innings, but a six-run 10thinning by the Firestorm led to a 12-6 loss for the Buccaneers at Bell Bank Park.
The Buccaneers received an outstanding pitching performance from ace Shaun Atamanchuk who held the potent Firestorm bats in check for five innings allowing only two runs on four hits with two strikeouts.
EHe left the game with an opportunity to win as the Bucs jumped on the board in the first as a Diego Bejarano single drove home the first two runs of the game in the bottom of the first.
Arizona Christian finally got to Atamanchuk in the fourth with a walk and a double. The Bucs answered right back with a run of their own in the bottom half of the fourth on a Brendan Blakeman double to score Connor Hommes.
The two teams exchanged runs again in the fifth and Atamanchuk left after five with a 4-2 advantage. In came Bucs closer Diego Bustillos who is usually seen in the eighth or ninth but has seen action early in his last two outings, this time coming in for the sixth.
For the second straight outing, Bustillos struggled, allowing four runs in 2 2/3 innings and left the game with in the eighth with the Bucs trailing 6-5. The Bucs offense tied the contest in the bottom half of the frame as three consecutive singles scored the tying run. The key hit coming from the bad of Joel Adamson who picked up the RBI on the game tying hit.
After a scoreless ninth which saw the Bucs get out of bases loaded jam, the Bucs entered extra innings for the first time this season. In the Firebird 10th a walk and a hit by pitch put their first two hitters on base. A sacrifice bunt moved them into scoring position. Another walk loaded the bases before reliver Matthew Medina got the second out on a pop up. The Bucs were one out away from getting out of a bases loaded crisis. Unfortunately, An ACU double cleared the bases and opened the flood gates. A RBI single and a two-run homer finished the six-run inning.
The Bucs were unable to answer in the bottom of the 10th and have now lost seven games in a row.
Medina (1-1) takes the loss in relief, Riley Quinton (2-0) picks up the win for ACU.
Bejarano (2), Blakeman (2), Alex Stinnett (3) and Kevin Whalen (2) each had multi-hit games for the Bucs. Bejarano had two RBI to lead the team.
Park Gilbert now travels to Glendale, Ariz., to take on Midland University in a neutral site contest as the two teams will face off at Glendale High School tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m.
Press Release courtesy of Park University Athletics – Preston English
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