(Tempe, AZ) The Park University Baseball team lost to No. 25 OUAZ 14-8 on Saturday afternoon at Tempe Diablo Field 3 in Tempe, Ariz. The Bucs lost all three games in the non-conference series to the Spirit to fall to 22-23 on the season.
The Buccaneers got on the board first with two runs on senior day which saw the Bucs honor 13 seniors playing their final game as a Buccaneer. Senior Christian LaPierre led off the bottom of the first with a single to center, then with two outs, Senior Connor Hommes singled to move LaPierre to second. Both players moved up a base on a passed ball before Nick Miller walked to load the bases. Senior Matthew Seibold then singled home LaPierre and Hommes.
Senior Zachary Fogle threw two scoreless innings before the Spirit offense caught up third on its second time through the order. In this series OUAZ has done most of its damage in one or two innings. Today it was the third as they roughed up Fogle for eight runs on six hits and one Buccaneer error.
But the Battlin’ Bucs kept fighting back scoring one in the fifth and three in the seventh to cut the score to 9-8. But an error in the eighth innings led to five runs (four unearned) off of Diego Bustillos to break the game back open and put the Bucs away.
LaPierre and Hommes each had two hits along with Gino Caperon who got two after entering the game in the sixth. Seibold had two RBI to lead the team.
Both teams had its struggles on the mound. OUAZ walked 10 and hit one batter, while the Bucs walked eight and hit seven batters. A combined grand total of 26 free bases between the two teams which led to a season long game time of 3 hours and 46 minutes.
Fogle (4-3) took the loss, while Evan Massie (2-0) picked up the win for the Spirit.
The Buccaneers now scoreboard watch to see what next weeks makeup game with Westcliff will mean to its postseason hopes. La Sierra has a double header with Saint Katherine tomorrow. If Las Sierra loses either one of the games the Bucs are in the postseason for the first time in school history and the Bucs game with Westcliff will be to see whether the Bucs will be home or away for the first round of the Cal Pac Championships.
If La Sierra wins both games tomorrow, the Bucs are in a win or go home game against Westcliff next week. The Bucs lost the season series to La Sierra so if both teams are tied, La Sierra goes to the tournament. The game time and location is still be determined as Westcliff also has two additional makeup games next week along with its game with Park Gilbert.
Before the possible make or break game against Westcliff, the Bucs have one more non-conference contest with Arizona Christian on Tuesday, April 23 at 7:30 pm in Glendale, Ariz.
Press Release courtesy of Park University Athletics – Preston English
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