In their second day in Palm Springs, the Inland Valley Pirates looked to complete a weekend sweep of the Palm Springs Power.
The Power haven’t lost two games in a row in years, and the Pirates had the chance to make it happen. They were very motivated to do so.
Vaughn Coleman drew a leadoff walk, and then Esteban Olazaba hit an RBI triple deep down the rightfield line.
As Olazaba advanced to third, the second baseman cut off the throw from the rightfielder and attempted to throw to third, but he threw the ball straight into the ribs of the shortstop standing 10 feet away from him.
As the shortstop reeled on the ground, Olazaba trotted into home safely to create a 2-0 lead for the Pirates.
In the top of the third, Hunter Meyer and Olazaba led off the inning with singles. Jordan Viramontes hit a hard groundball to first, advancing the runners to second and third.
With two outs, Ashton Romero came up huge, hitting a single to centerfield, scoring both runners and extending the score to 4-0.
The Power chipped away in the third, fourth, and fifth innings, scoring one run in each inning.
In the sixth inning, the Pirates brought in Jacob Yun, who immediately put a stop to the Power’s momentum.
In the seventh, the Pirates brought in Austin Kirkwood, but he walked the bases loaded and was taken out after getting only one out.
Luckily for the Pirates, reliever Jackson Banuelos had his best stuff. Banuelos struck out the first batter he faced, then got a pop-up to left to get out of the messy inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Power got two runners on from a single and a dropped third strike, but Wyatt Prieto turned a clutch double play to end the inning and send the game into the ninth.
In the top of the ninth, Cody White hit a Sacrifice Fly to right field, and the rightfielder made a tremendous throw home, but Connor Tallakson was able to score because the catcher dropped the ball.
The insurance run was needed as the Power found a way to load the bases once again in the ninth. Banuelos walked a batter, giving the Power a run and moving the winning run into scoring position.
With the game on the line, Banuelos threw a beautiful changeup to strike out the Power batter, end the game, and complete the weekend sweep.
The Pirates had a successful road trip out to Palm Springs and will next travel to UCR to play the first-place Legends.
Inland Valley Baseball Association 