Pinnacle Holds off Red Mountain
In a battle of top 6A contenders, Pinnacle lost a 5-0 lead but came back to take an 8-7 win over Red Mountain on Friday.
The Pioneers got out an early lead in the first when Jacob Ferguson and CJ Schauwecker walked and Patrick Donovan sent a drive over the fence in right center for a 3 -0 lead.
Pinnacle added 2 more in the second on a 2 RBI triple off the bat of Nolan Brooks.
Red Mountain got on the board in the 3rd on a 2 run homer from Luke Hyzdu.
In the bottom of the 4th, Joe Riley would single for Pinnacle, move to second on a fielder’s choice ground out and score on a single from Ferguson to make it 6-2.
In the 5th, Pinnacle starter Ty Woessner started to show signs of fatigue. Sam Clow led off with a solo bomb to make it 6-3. After a pair of walks and a base hit by Hyzdu loaded the bases, Pinnacle Coach Roy Muller brought in 6-5 junior Max Kendall.
Kendall uncorked a wild pitch to score a run, but then punched out Austin Duffy for the first out.
Riley Pagel followed with a jam job double inside the bag at third that plated two more runs and tied it at 6. Andrew Hayes would single home Pagel and the Lions were up 7-6.
The ‘neers would tie it in the bottom of the 5th when Donovan singled, moved to second on a Luke Woods ground out, stole third, and scored on a Trey Newman ground out.
The score would remain tied into the 8th inning. With darkness setting in quickly, Kendall retired the Lions in the top half of the inning.
In the bottom of the 8th with one out, Zach Hull would ground a ball to short and when the throw got away, Hull advanced to second base. The Lions elected to intentionally walk Riley, and after a strike out for the second out, Ferguson would draw a walk to load the bases.
That brought Brooks to the plate, and with the count 2-2 , reliever Sam Clow’s pitch got away from catcher Randy HUtson, allowing Hull to scamper home with the game winner.
Kendall got the win in relief, tossing 4 innings and allowing only 2 hits and a solo run. He fanned 4 RM hitters.
Brooks was 3-4 with a triple and 2 RBIs for Pinnacle.
Hyzdu and Pagel each had 2 hits for RM.
Mesquite hosted Notre Dame on Friday and won a slugfest 13-11.
The two teams combined for 27 hits, with Mesquite outhitting the Saints 14-13.
The two teams traded solo runs in the first and second innings before NDP plated 5 in the third with 2 RBI doubles from Jarrett Pille and Tyler Cranston being the big blows.
In the bottom of the third, Mesquite sent 14 men to the plate and hung a 9 spot to take an 11-7 lead.
In the 7th, trailing 13-7, NDP rallied for 4 runs, and Alex Nyberg 3 run bomb doing most of the damage, but Mesquite got out of the inning with the W.
Holden Breeze had 4 doubles for Mesquite, scoring 3 runs and driving in 3.
Hamilton traveled to Corona del Sol and came away with a 4-2 win in 9 innings.
Both starting pitchers were excellent.
Corona’s Matt Novis punched out 14 hitters in 8 innings of work. He allowed only 3 hits and walked 1 batter.
Hamilton’s Dustin Bermudez scattered 5 hits in 7 innins with 6 Ks.
Bermudez and Kyle Hasler both went deep for Hamilton
Sophomore Kyle Ponzo threw 2 scoreless innings in relief to earn the W.
