Pirates Fall Short

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

Pirates Drop Game 1 to Power

The Inland Valley Pirates (16-13-1, 6-10) fell in the first game of a doubleheader to the Palm Springs Power (29-10, 12-5) at Cal Poly Pomona on Monday afternoon.

The Power won Game 1 by a 17-12 score.

Palm Springs jumped out to a 17-3 lead after four innings, but the Pirates managed to make it more respectful, scoring the final nine runs of the game.

Palm Springs scored seven in the first.

Inland Valley came back with one in the bottom of the frame as Nick Hernandez knocked in Drew Seelman.

The Power grabbed five more in the second to take a 12-1 lead.

The Pirates responded with two in the bottom of the inning on a two-run triple by Andrew Alvarez to make it 12-3.

The Power continued to pile it on the Pirates scoring five in the fourth to extend the margin to 17-3.

Inland Valley plated five in the seventh as Hernandez, Nick Costello and Jonny Reynoso ripped back-to-back-to-back RBI doubles to close the gap to 17-8.

The Pirates tallied one more in the eighth to make it 17-9 and finished with a three-run ninth. Greg Espinosa and Justin Gomez contributed one RBI.

Batting AB R H RBI BB K
Jonny Reynoso 5 2 1 1 0 0
Andrew Alvarez 5 1 4 2 0 1
Nick Marshall 4 1 2 1 1 0
Justin Gomez 1 0 0 1 0 0
Jake Thumm 4 0 0 0 0 2
Nick Hernandez 6 1 3 2 0 0
Drew Seelman 6 2 3 0 0 0
Sergio Robles 4 2 0 0 1 1
Nick Costello 6 1 2 1 0 0
Greg Espinosa 5 2 2 1 1 0
Totals 46 12 17 9 3 4

Batting2B: Jonny Reynoso, Andrew Alvarez 2, Nick Hernandez, Drew Seelman 2, Nick Costello
3B: Andrew Alvarez
TB: Jonny Reynoso 2, Andrew Alvarez 8, Nick Marshall 2, Nick Hernandez 4, Drew Seelman 5, Nick Costello 3, Greg Espinosa 2
RBI: Jonny Reynoso, Andrew Alvarez 2, Nick Marshall, Justin Gomez, Nick Hernandez2, Nick Costello, Greg Espinosa
ROE: Jonny Reynoso, Nick Hernandez, Sergio Robles, Nick Costello, Greg Espinosa
SB: Greg Espinosa
CS: Nick Hernandez

Pitching IP #P S% H R ER K BB HR
Conlan McKenzie 2.1 0 .000 9 9 9 0 3 0
Brendan Hornung 0.2 0 .000 8 7 7 0 2 0
Jarrett Veiga 6.0 0 .000 7 1 1 4 1 0
Totals 9.0 0 24 17 17 4 6 0

PitchingL: Brendan Hornung

Pirates 2015 Season Preview

The Pirates return 14 players from their SCCBL 2015 regular season co-championship team.

Andrew Alavarez pre game
Andrew Alvarez

Former SCCBL all-stars Andrew Alvarez, Kyle Jackson, Jonny Reynoso, Anthony Virgen and Nathan Virgen are all back to help the club improve to the next level after last season’s successful 26-8 finish.

Alvarez posted gaudy numbers, while dominating the competition in 2014. The Houston Baptist senior-to-be earned Pitcher of the Month honors in June, while finishing 5-0 with a 2.42 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 44.2 innings. He did damage with the bat as well, finishing with a .341 batting average and leading the team with 31 hits for the season. Continue reading “Pirates 2015 Season Preview”

Inland Valley All-Stars Revealed

pirates all stars copy The Inland Valley Baseball Association earned 10 combined all-star elections for the All-Star game on Saturday night at Palm Springs Stadium.

The home run derby will get underway at 6 pm with the all-star game beginning at 7:05. Continue reading “Inland Valley All-Stars Revealed”

Pirates Take Game 1 vs SD

pirates gm 27The Pirates (24-6, 11-4) defeated Team San Diego (23-18, 7-8) 7-2 in Game 1 of the double dip Friday afternoon at Cal Poly Pomona.

The Pirates jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning.

Andrew Alvarez doubled and scored on a Nolan Henley RBI base hit up the middle. Christian Kelley plated the second run on an infield single by Greg Espinosa. Continue reading “Pirates Take Game 1 vs SD”

Pirates Down Halos

pirates gm 25The Pirates (23-5, 10-4) defeated the OC Halos 6-1 on Sunday afternoon at Cal Poly Pomona.

Inland Valley got out to a quick start in the first inning as Greg Espinosa scored on an RBI by Andrew Alvarez to make it 1-0.

The Halos knotted it up at 1-1 in the fourth inning.

Anthony Virgen killed any moment the Halos might have had with a majestic two-run homer over the left field wall in the fifth inning. Anthony’s brother, Nathan, also scored on the big fly and the Pirates regained the lead at 3-1. Continue reading “Pirates Down Halos”

Pirates Conquer Legends

pirates gm 24The Pirates (21-5, 10-4) conquered the Long Beach Legends 3-0 on Wednesday afternoon at Long Beach City College.

The story of the game was the two D-1 pitchers for the Pirates, Andrew Alvarez (5-0) and Jordan Scheftz (SV 2), shutout the Legends. Alvarez tossed the first five innings, while Scheftz closed out the final four. Continue reading “Pirates Conquer Legends”

Pirates Win Game 1 in SD

pirates gm 19The Pirates (16-4, 7-3) defeated Team San Diego (16-8, 6-4) 8-4 in Game 1 of the doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Morley Field in San Diego.

Inland Valley came out of the gate strong with two runs in the first inning when Jonny Reynoso belted a two-run double scoring Greg Espinosa and Andrew Alvarez.

San Diego came back with two of their own in the bottom of the first to knot it up at 2 apiece. Continue reading “Pirates Win Game 1 in SD”

Pirates Win; Tied for First in SCCBL

pirates gm 18Sitting just a half game back of Team San Diego and the Palm Springs Power, the Inland Valley Pirates knew they had a very important game against the Bucs Thursday afternoon at Cal Poly Pomona.

The Pirates (15-4, 6-3) responded superbly defeating the Bucs (3-14, 2-9) 4-1.

AJ David ripped a two-run double down the left field line scoring Jason Padlo and Andrew Alvarez to make it a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third. Continue reading “Pirates Win; Tied for First in SCCBL”

Pirates Top Power in Game 1

pirates gm 16The Pirates (13-3-1, 5-2) defeated the Palm Springs Power (17-2, 3-2) in a tightly contested 3-2 victory at Cal Poly Pomona Monday afternoon.

Andrew Alvarez (4-0) shut down the Power for the second consecutive time and remains the only pitcher to notch a victory against Palm Springs. Alvarez tossed 8.1 innings, striking out four and only allowing two runs in the ninth inning.

The Pirates took the lead in the fifth on an RBI double down the left field line by Jacob Bernardy scoring Nathan Virgen. Continue reading “Pirates Top Power in Game 1”