(Mesa, AZ) The Park University Gilbert baseball team (2-3) defeated the Nelson University Warriors (1-4) by a score of 4-1, Tuesday morning at Arizona Athletic Grounds.
The Buccaneers snapped a three-game losing streak, securing their first win since opening day on Jan. 30 against The College of Idaho. The Park-Gilbert bats have been strong to start the year as the team has averaged 6.2 runs a game in 2025.
The first two innings saw no hits for either team, as both starting pitchers got off to a strong start. Right-handed pitcher Isaiah Csader was first on the mound for Park Tuesday morning, making his second appearance of the season.
In the third inning, first baseman Eric Baratta got the first hit of the day for Park-Gilbert reaching first on a line drive to right field, with catcher Andrew Allanson following up with a hit of his own in the next at-bat. Left fielder A Gino Caperonsingle brought Baratta home for Park’s first run, as Caperon recorded his third RBI of the season.
Csader reached 39 pitches before allowing the Warriors’ first hit in the fourth inning. In the bottom of the inning, Bucs third baseman Nick Miller singled to extend his streak of reaching a base safely to 22 games dating back to last season.
In the fifth inning, the Bucs turned to right-handed pitcher Ben Staiger. Csader finished the day pitching four innings. He threw a total of 42 pitches and 29 strikes, allowed one hit and struck out one batter. Nelson was able to tie the game at 1-1 when first baseman Kaysen Kajiwara drove home a run with his single to center field.
In the top of the 7th inning, Bucs right-handed pitcher Kendrick Tipping came in to pitch for Staiger. In the bottom of the inning, the Warriors made a pitching change from starter Esteban Acevedo to reliever Matthew Shultz, who was Nelson’s designated hitter through six innings. Caleb Rozier who opened the innings with single, scored on a Gino Caperon sac fly to take the lead again at 2-1.
Baratta got back on the board in bottom of the eighth inning, extending the score to 4-1 as he drove home two more runs on a single to score Nick Miller and Christian LaPierre.
Josh Leckey came on for Tipping to close out the ninth inning and the game, as Leckey earned the first save of his career and Tipping got his first career win.
The Buccaneers totaled eight hits and zero errors to Nelson’s five hits and three errors Tuesday morning.
Park-Gilbert returns to the diamond this Thursday, Feb. 6 at 6:00 p.m. MST to face the Eastern Oregon Mountaineers in their season opener. This contest will be played at the Tempe Diablo minor league fields in Tempe, Arizona.
Press Release courtesy of Park University Athletics – Preston English
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