The Inland Valley Pirates (18-17-2) fell short in their quest to win in dramatic fashion in Game 3 of the SCCBL first round against the Palm Springs Power (34-12).
The Power scored the lone run of the game in the third inning without notching a hit or even an error as Ryan Raslowsky reached on a walk, stole second, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a sacrifice fly.
With that said, the Pirates had their chances, but base running mistakes were the thing that hurt their chances the most.
In the ninth inning, Inland Valley got two consecutive hits to start the inning from Kyle Jackson and Andrew Alvarez and they had runners on the corners with no outs. The tying run was just 90 feet away and the go-ahead run was on board, but the Pirates couldn’t come through with the timely hit as Justin Gomez bounced one to the first baseman who threw Jackson out at the plate. Nick Costello and Greg Espinosa tried to continue the rally, but on this day it was meant to be.
The pitching staff was great, only allowing four hits and the one run. Sean Patton worked the middle three innings and notched five strike outs.
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | K |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Jackson | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Jonny Reynoso | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chaneng Varela | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Andrew Alvarez | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Nick Marshall | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Justin Gomez | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jake Thumm | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nick Hernandez | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Drew Seelman | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Nick Costello | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Greg Espinosa | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 31 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
BattingTB: Kyle Jackson 2, Andrew Alvarez, Justin Gomez 2, Jake Thumm 2, Greg Espinosa2
SAC: Chaneng Varela
| Pitching | IP | #P | S% | H | R | ER | K | BB | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sean Patton | 3.0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| Brett Early | 3.0 | 0 | .000 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Ryan Alsworth | 2.0 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 8.0 | 0 | — | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 0 |
PitchingL: Brett Early