Author: ivbaseball

The Bucs played the Nighthawks at Citrus field today losing the game 12-2. The Nighthawks jumped out to the lead early with two runs in the first inning off of Sir Gomez. One hitter that stood out today for the Bucs was Matt Shea who went 1 for 3 with a walk and a big home run to left field. The Bucs’ next game is Friday at Amerige Park at 4:00 against the OC Riptide.

Fullerton, Calif.- The Pirates kicked off the Summer 2019 campaign with a win against the San Diego Waves. Despite a solid first inning where the waves scored first, the Pirates pitching locked in to secure a 5-1 victory in the first non conference game of the year.

The Pirates scored two runs quickly in the bottom of the first followed by one in the second and another two in the third inning. Cal Poly Commit Rhys Stevens dominated in relief with an impressive five strikeouts in two innings pitched. The Pirates pitching staff held the waves to only two hits.

The boys will be back in action tomorrow against the Cal Jays. First pitch is scheduled for 7 pm at Amerige Park . Pirates win 5-1.

The Bucs faced off against the So Cal Waves today at Amerige Park tonight. Things did not go as planned for the Bucs as Mason Corneliuss started on the mound today for the Bucs giving up 3 hits and 2 home runs in the first four batters. Hitting wise the Bucs also did not have the start they would have desired not getting a baserunner until the third inning. Two hitters that managed to have success for the Bucs though were Sam Margulis who went 2-4 and Rion Santamaria who went 1-2 with two walks. The Bucs look to shake off this loss and tally their first win in their game tomorrow (6/5) at Citrus college at 4:00.

Fullerton, Calif. –Trailing by three runs heading into the second inning, The Pirates rallied to score seven runs in the bottom of the inning to take an 8-4 lead it would not relinquish.

The Pirates led by four runs heading into the top of the fifth inning before the Legends rallied to score five runs making the game 11-9, the closet the game would get. The Pirates didn’t give, coming back to score four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and two in the sixth to take control.

The Pirates offense was firing on all cylinders totaling in 23 hits against the Legends pitching staff. With a season-high 17 runs scored the Pirates look to carry the offensive momentum going forward against Palm Springs. Pirates win 17-13.

The Bucs kicked off their season today with a game against the Pirates at Citrus field losing 9-1. Today was not really an official game but rather a scrimmage to get a feel of the team. They batted only seven players for the first 5 innings then did a line change for a new seven at the end of the 5th. The Bucs also used a new pitcher each inning, even having one of their own pitch for the other team in the 9th inning. While the Bucs lost this one they seemed to be getting a feel for each other and getting close to finding their rhythm for the season.

The Inland Valley Bucs and Inland Valley Pirates combined to have 10 players selected to the All-SCCBL first and second teams with the Bucs tied for the league lead with 7 selections.

The Bucs Kory Brown was named SCCBL player of the year while slashing .420/ .593/ .484. Brown lead the SCCBL with 34 hits and 19 RBI. Brown also won the homerun derby at the SCCBL All-Star game.

Joining Brown on the first team were teammates P Hayden Petrovick and OF Dylan Hirsch. Inland Valley Pirates P Andre Hensen and 3B Jake Anderson also made the first team.

Making the second team from the Bucs were P Isaac Lopez, C Tyus Santa Ana, OF Monte Motenegro and OF Christian Valdez. Joining them from the Inland Valley Pirates was 1B Chase Wehsner.

In game 3 of the SCCBL championship series, the Inland Valley Buccaneers and San Diego Force went 14 innings with the Force prevailing 1-2. With the win, the San Diego Force won the league championship for the third time in the past four years. The Bucs finish their season just short of the championship and an overall record of 18-14.

The championship game was all about pitching with both teams only combining for 14 hits overall. For the Bucs, starter Brennan Piceno went 7 strong innings while only giving up 1 run and four hits. Force starter, Ryan Losman,  was even better by going 8 and 1/3 while only giving up 1 run on 2 hits and striking out 12. Both pitchers would leave the game with the score 1-1 with their respective bullpens keeping the game close for the remainder of the game. The next 2 pitchers for the Bucs, Aaron Bernal and Hayden Petrovick, would keep the game tied with four innings of scoreless work. Matthew Goytia would replace Petrovick in the 12th and shut down the Force for the next 2 innings. In the 14th, Goytia would allow a leadoff double to Drake Pierson to put the go ahead run at second. After hitting the next batter to put runners at 1st and 2nd, Goytia would get a groundout for the first out while the runners on 1st and 2nd advanced. After intentional walking the next batter, Goytia got a big strikeout for out number 2. With two outs and the bases loaded, Goytia would hit the next batter, Joshua Sidley, to bring home the runner from third and give the Force the 1-2 win.

On Tuesday night in Palm Springs, the Inland Valley Buccaneers upset the top seeded Palm Springs for the second straight game 5-4 to advance to the SCCBL championship round.

The Bucs got out to the 1-0 lead in the third inning. Malcolm Smith would get on base on an error by the shortstop and then proceed to steal his first base of the game to advance to second. After the Bucs failed to bring him in on their next two at bats, Christian Valdez would get an RBI single to put the Bucs ahead. They would add to their lead in the fifth inning with three more runs  to make it 4-0. Brad Lewis would get a big single bringing home Tyus Santa Anna and Griffin Hennessey.

With the Bucs ahead 4-0, the Palm Springs Power would chip away at the lead starting in the 6th inning. After Bucs starter Aaron Bernal held the Power scoreless for the first five innings, the Power would get their first run on a Ben Nisle single bring home Matt Green who lead off the inning with a double to make it 4-1. After giving up back to back doubles and making the score 4-2, Aaron Bernal would be replaced by Jake Wilkerson. Wilkerson would get out of the seventh with the score still 4-2 but in the eighth, the Power would tie the game up. The Power would put runners on second and third on a single by Matt Green and a double by Ben Nisle. They would then get a single to bring those runners in to make it 4-4. The Bucs would then bring in closer Hayden Petrovick with only one out to keep the game tied. With a runner on first base, Petrovick would get the next batter to ground out. After a wild pitch by Petrovick to put the go ahead runner at third base, he would get the big strike out to keep the game tied going into the ninth.

Malcolm Smith would leadoff the inning for the Bucs by getting on with an error by the second baseman. After the next batter struck out, Smith would proceed to steal second base and then third base for his third stolen base of the game. In the same at bat, Smith would score from third on an error by the catcher to put the Bucs up 5-4. Petrovick would then return to the mound to and strike out two of the four batters to preserve the win for the Bucs.

The Bucs now advance to the SCCBL championship series against the San Diego Force who swept the Inland Valley Pirates in their first round matchup.

2018 was not the year for the Pirates.

Inland Valley’s season comes to an end tonight as the team drops the second consecutive game to the San Diego Force in the best-of-three first round series of the postseason. After struggling greatly in their first matchup, where they were shutout 9-0, the Pirates failed to make the necessary adjustments and took the 6-1 loss to the Force in game two.

The Pirate’s looked like they were going to make some moves early after getting four runners to walk in the first inning  and tying up the score 1-1. That, along with a pair of impressive double plays to end both the second and third innings provided some hope for the Pirates to even up the series.

However, San Diego continued to ride it’s wave from the night before, crushing that small spark from Inland Valley.

The Force would go on to score another five runs in the fourth through sixth innings all while preventing the Pirates from getting on the board for a second time. The lower seeded team finished with 12 hits, including two home runs to seal the deal and advance to the Championship where they will face the Inland Valley Bucs in another best-of-three series.

The Pirate’s finish this summer with an overall record of 17-11 and a conference record of 14-8.

In the first game of the playoffs, the Inland Valley Buccaneers took down the top seeded Palm Springs power 2-1 in pitchers duel. With the win, the Buccaneers are only one win away from moving on to the championship round of the playoffs.

Pitcher Brennan Piceno went head to head with the Power’s Jonathan Buckley and both pitchers gave up little offense. The Power jumped out to the 0-1 lead in the on three singles in the second inning. This would be the only hits and run that the Power would get as Piceno would go seven and two-thirds and only allow one walk along with the three singles and run while striking out three. With Piceno keeping the Power’s offense down, the Bucs offense scored just enough to get the win. In the fifth inning, Christian Valdez led off with a leadoff single followed by a double by Monte Montenegro. After the next two batters struck out, Kristian Scott would get a big single to bring in Valdez and Montenegro and give the Bucs the 2-1 lead. That was the Bucs needed as Gerardo Ramirez and Heydan Petrovick would relieve Piceno and shut down the Power with Heydan Petrovick picking up the save for the Bucs.

The Buccaneers look to advance to the championship round on Wednesday night as they travel to Palm Spring Stadium at 7:05 PM. If necessary, game 3 will be on Thursday night at Palm Springs Stadium.