D-I/D-II baseball elimination games May 10

May 10, 2016 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365



Sandra Day O'Connor baseball coach Jeff Baumgartner said a month ago when his team edged Perry,, 5-4, the Pumas were the best hitting team the Eagles had faced to that point.


That apparently remained the case Tuesday afternoon when the teams met with elimination on the line in the Division I state tournament at Diablo Stadium. And for the second time, Baumgartner had the answer to Perry's offense -- Ryan Alexander. 

Alexander hurled a two-hitter and got a blast and a bloop for offense as No. 4 SDO eliminated No. 2 Perry, 4-0.

"I was a little nervous since they saw him the first time" Baumgartner said. "They are the best hitting team we've seen. Ryan ended up pitching 12 innings (five the first time), against them. He was outstanding again today."

SDO (29-6) advances to yet another elimination game on Thursday at 4 p.m. at Diablo against Chaparral, a 5-2 winner over Mountain Pointe. Perry, a very good hitting team as Baumgartner pointed out, was ousted with successive losses to Hamilton 10-game winner Zane Strand and Alexander, who is 10-0.

Alexander was matched up against Perry's No. 1 pitcher Tayt Smith and they traded scoreless frames for three innings. In the top of the fourth SDO got its blast  -- a Nolan Gorman home run over the right field fence. The sophomore, hitting .500 for the year, set a school record with his 10th homer of the season. Eight of them have come in the last month.

SDO added another run in the fifth on an RBI single by Nico Bugarello, the last of three successive hits by the 7-8-9 hitters in the Eagles' lineup. Two insurance runs were tacked on in the seventh as pinch-hitter Jayce Easley's bloop single to left with two outs and the bases loaded accounted for the final score. The hit was the first of the season for Easley, who has battled injury all season. He was 0-for-11 prior to the hit.

Alexander had one rough inning -- the fifth -- when he walked the bases loaded. He and Perry No. 3 hitter Trevor Hauver battled, but Alexander prevailed getting a long fly to center for the final out of the inning. Perry (24-12) got its second hit and walk in the seventh, but Alexander struck out Wacy Crenshaw to end the game. Alexander yiedled two singles, walked five and struck out seven. Smith worked five innings giving up six hits, two runs, no walks and fanning three. 

SDO got nine hits -- one from each of nine players. Tommy Sacco and Crenshaw led Perry with a single and walk apiece. 


CHAPARRAL 5, MOUNTAIN POINTE 2: The #13 Firebirds scored in four of the first five innings and used four pitchers to stymie the No. 8 Pride at Diablo Stadium.

Gianni Tomasi, Ian McMillan and Kenny Littlefair had an RBI apiece. Tomasi and Jacob Gonzalez led Chaparral with two hits each. Travis Bailey, Ben Kirke. Blake Flint and Bake Paugh combined to limit Mountain Pointe to five hits. Brock Bell had two hits and and RBI for Mountain Pointe. It was the final game for Mountain Pointe coach Brandon Buck, who will held to Idaho for a new opportunity. Mountain Pointe won one state title in Buck's tenure, beating Hamilton for the D-I title in 2011 and finished runner-up to Desert Ridge in 2010.

D-II

TUCSON 1, WESTWOOD 0: George Arias and Joseph Dicochea doubled in the second inning for their team's only hits, but it was enough to provide the No. 9 Badgers a win over the No.19 Warriors in an elimination game at Maryvale Park.

Tucson used four pitchers to notch the shutout. The quarter of Julio Morales, Michael Corral, Martin Garcia and Arias were the moundsmen. They pitched around trouble in four innings as Westwood stranded 11 runners -- two in the first and bases loaded in the third-, fifth- and seventh-innings. Corral, the second pitcher the Badgers used, was deemed the winning pitcher. Westwood's Aaron Makil was the tough-luck loser. He walked one and struck out five.

CANYON DEL ORO 7, THUNDERBIRD 1: Mason Gavre and Robert Santorelli drove in two runs apiece as the No. 6 Doroados knocked off the No. 1 Chiefs at Maryvale Park.

Tyler Porter dominated on the mound, alllowing two hits over six innings. Tristan Peterson and Porter contributed an RBI each. Canyon del Oro takes on Tucson in another elimiination game on Thursday. The lone unbeatens in D-II are Ironwood Ridge and Greenway, who also play on Thursday.