(Mesa, AZ) The Park University Gilbert baseball team split a double header with Eastern Oregon this afternoon at Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa, Ariz. winning the first game 9-8 with a walk-off home run and dropping the second contest 7-4. The Bucs are now 4-4 on the season.
Game 1 – Park Gilbert 9, Eastern Oregon 8
The Buccaneers pounded 19 hits in a spectacular come from behind win in game one of the twin bill against Eastern Oregon. Park overcame a 6-1 deficit and then made another comeback in the ninth to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
The Bucs took the lead to start the game on a Joel Holguin sacrifice fly to score Caleb Rozier who doubled to start the game.
EOU touched up Park Gilbert starter Trey Langan for six runs in four innings. This was Langan’s second tough start in a row as the sophomore right hander tries to find the formula he used for success last year as a freshman.
Lefty Aiden Guthrey came on in relief and held the Mountaineer bats in check for two innings which set the stage for the first comeback. EOU starter Shane Sinclair went four innings allowing only the first inning run. The Bucs did their damage in the fifth against the Mountaineer bullpen.
Senior Andrew Allanson greeted EOU reliever Reed Stamps with a home run to dead center. Holguin followed with a double and Diego Bejarano singled to put runners on the corners. Gino Caperon capped the sequence with a three-run blast of his own to left center to cut the lead to one.
This chased Stamps from the game but did not end the Bucs scoring. Catcher Jesus Avila drove home the fifth run of the inning with two outs on a single to score Christian LaPierre.
The game would remain tied through the sixth, then in the seventh, a lead off walk, followed by a single put EOU in business and they made the Bucs pay as a double down the left field line plated both runners to make the score 8-6.
The Bucs would get one across in the bottom of the seventh to set the stage for the ninth inning heroics.
Sophomore Isaiah Csader (2-0) who picked up the win on Tuesday against Nelson came on in relief and held the Mountaineers scoreless in the eighth and ninth innings including striking out the side in the ninth to pick up his second win in as many games after what took place in the bottom of the ninth.
Down a run, Avila, who was 2-2 on the day walked to lead off the inning against EOU pitcher Alex Farnsworth. Then on the second pitch he saw from Farnsworth, Caleb Rozier unloaded on a pitch to deep left center field to win the game and provide the Bucs with the first walk off home run in school history.
That capped a 4-6 day at the plate for Rozier with 2 RBI. Bejarano, Caperon and LaPierre also had multi-hit games each going 3-5. Eric Rojo and Avila each had two hits. Rozier, Allanson and Caperon had multi RBI games.
Game 2 – Eastern Oregon 7, Park Gilbert 4
The second game which was only a seven inning game got off to an inauspicious start as three first inning errors led to two runs (1 earned) scoring off of Park Gilbert starter Hayden King (0-1) who would take the loss in the game. They scored two more in the third and one in the fourth off of King to take a 5-1 lead as the Bucs only managed one run in five innings off of EOU starter Danny Burns (1-0).
The Bucs looked to make another comeback as they plated three runs in the sixth to cut the lead to two, but EOU scored an insurance run in the seventh and the Bucs could not pull any more magic out of their collective hats and fell for the first time this week.
Issac Echeveste was the only player with a multi-hit game and Caperon drove in two more runs to lead the team.
The Bucs and Mountaineers finish the series tomorrow morning back at Tempe Diablo in Tempe, Ariz., with a 10 a.m. start. No starter has been announced for the Bucs.
Press Release courtesy of Park University Athletics – Preston English
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