It was 90 degrees at Cal Poly Pomona’s Scolinos Field on Friday evening. That type of heat keeps most people inside, but it’s perfect for summer baseball in Southern California.
This Friday evening matchup was against the CPCL’s Inland Valley Bucs and Pirates. The Bucs beat the Pirates 6-5 in their last meeting just two days prior, on Wednesday at Bonita High School.
The Bucs came into Friday winning two of their last three games, while the Pirates have experienced a seven-game slide, with their only win coming over the Bucs on Opening Day.
The Pirates have struggled to piece things together on the mound, and the offense has not been able to make up for the insistent long innings that have plagued their pitching staff.
Even in games where the pitching is excellent and has put up numerous scoreless frames, there still seems to be at least one inning where the Pirates forfeit three or more runs causing them to play behind large deficits.
The Bucs have had great offensive outbursts throughout the season to pair with some exemplary pitching performances, but they haven’t always come in the same game. Through their first nine games, the Bucs have already lost or tied three one-run games.
Finding consistency on the mound and in the batter’s box could certainly make the Bucs dangerous down the stretch.
After drawing a two-out walk in the first, the Bucs were able to get on the board as Jarren Sanderson blasted a two-run home run to left.
The Bucs’ offense remained relentless, scoring another two runs in the second inning off of a walk and three singles. Pirates pitching struggled to shut the Bucs down, allowing them to score one run in the third, two runs in the fourth, and one more in the fifth.
The Pirates were able to shut the Bucs down from the sixth inning on, but by this time they had already dug themselves into an eight-run deficit.
Bucs’ pitching was fantastic throughout the game. Starting pitcher Moises Escobedo dominated the Pirates, striking out seven batters across five scoreless innings.
Escobedo threw a lot of changeups to both righties and lefties, keeping them off balance and causing them to whiff out of the zone.
Relief pitching held the Pirates scoreless until the ninth when the Pirates finally started a rally of their own.
A leadoff walk, followed by a double from Garrett Patterson, finally got runners in scoring position for the Pirates. Gavin Garcia singled into center to advance the runners making the score 8-1. A sac fly added one more run, but the rally ended abruptly when the Bucs turned a smooth double play up the middle.
With the 8-2 win, the Bucs improved to 4-5-1 this season. With their eighth consecutive loss, the Pirates fall to 1-8.
Both teams will be in action on Sunday against the Legends at Azusa Pacific University. The Pirates will face the Legends at 1 PM, while the Bucs are scheduled for the second game at 4 PM.
Inland Valley Baseball Association 