Park University's baseball program worked two wins at the Rube Foster Classic on Sunday and Monday against Harris-Stowe State University and University of Saint Mary, while Northwestern College (Iowa) earned the win over the Pirates on Monday.
Park was led by
Yadiel Santana and
Ricardo Hernandez with four RBI's each in the series, while
Trent Turner and
Zayne Morrow had great production with three RBI's each.
As a team, Park hit .303 for the tournament with four doubles and one homerun. Park's pitching allowed nine runs altogether with 20 strikeouts as a staff.
GAME 1 | Harris-Stowe, 5-1 | Box Score
The Pirates jumped ahead of the Hornets from the start with a three-run bottom of the first.
Ricardo Hernandez, in his second season at Park, pierced a ball through the in the hole past the third basemen to score
Billy Rivera from third.
Trent Turner is a familiar returner for the Pirates and the Glendale, Arizona product shot a ball through the cold air to centerfield track for a two-run double.
Adam Stilts was the starter for the second time this season, going a complete game for the Pirates. The transfer from Lewis and Clark Community College pounded the zone and struck out five Hornets, all while not allowing a walk.
The only run for Harris-Stowe came in the top of the fourth inning with two-outs to right-centerfield landing in front of first-year Pirate,
Daniel Maldonado. On the same play that scored the Hornet's run, Maldonado gave Stilts a defensive boost with an outfield assist from right field to end the inning with only one run coming across.
Two more runs came in the bottom of the fifth inning from
Yadiel Santana and
Zayne Morrow. Santana snuck a ball through the 5-6 hole on the left side and scored Rivera. Morrow did a job for Park with a sacrifice fly to the left fielder for the game's final run.
Stilts had ample scoring behind him to finish his outing with his first win of his Pirate career. He also made his first appearance on a Pirate Post-Game following the Harris-Stowe action.
GAME 2 | Saint Mary, 16-5 | Box Score
The Pirates had their second straight game with a first inning run. This time a leadoff walk turned into a run, as Rivera swiped a bag and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from Santana.
Kenneth Melendez was able to bring in Rivera on a ground out to the shortstop.
Angel Lebron was on the bump and eventually earned his first win of 2023 and began the day tearing through the Spire bats by striking out the side. He finished his outing with eight strikeouts on 17 batters faced in four innings with two earned runs coming across in the fourth.
Before that though, Park put up two straight four-run innings on the Spires. In the top of the third, another sacrifice bunt advanced two Pirates to set up Santana's RBI single. Morrow drove in the fourth run of the inning on a single to cap off a four-run, three-hit inning.
In the fourth,
Davisai Pizarro had his second straight leadoff hit. This time, he packed a punch with a home run shot to straight away left. Two runs would score on bases loaded walks for the Pirates, and the second four-run inning was ended on a two-hit inning.
Park would score in five-consecutive innings, two three-run innings in the fifth and the sixth, and one run in the seventh to cruise to the 16-5 victory.
Altogether Park had 11 hits with extra-base hits by Santana, Hernandez, and Pizarro. Both Santana and
Ricardo Hernandez led the Pirates with three RBI games.
Guillermo Gelpi,
Michael Hoffman, and
Adrian Colon-Aviles each hurled an inning in the relief to close out the game. Colon had three strikeouts, while his fellow relievers earned one each. As a staff Park struck out 13, allowing six hits and six walks for five earned runs.
GAME 3 | Northwestern, 0-3 | Box Score
The Pirates began their final game of the tournament against Northwestern College with two straight base-hits to leftfield by
Corey Bradford and
Yadiel Santana. Bradford was able to steal third, but Santana stayed at first. This would turn out to help Northwestern in the next sequence. The three-hole Melendez struck out for the first out, but Hernandez would fly out to right field. Because Santana did not tag up, he was doubled up by the Raiders to end the inning without a run being scored.
The Raiders were in business in the first inning with a leadoff double by the pitcher Drew Dykstra. His pinch runner, Click scored on a double from his teammate Vogel.
Hunter Edwards was given the ball for the Pirates and competed through five innings of work.
The Raiders were able to capitalize again in the second inning with two runs. Park fell victim to a pitcher delay rule, which turned a 3-2 count into a walk without Hunter throwing a pitch. After a successful double steal, a single to leftfield brought the game's final runs in around third and second.
Park only managed one more hit in the game from Melendez, as Park's one through three-hole batters each had one hit in the game.
Dykstra through six innings, striking out four. Park had three double-plays they hit into, which cut the third and fourth innings short offensively.
Seven hits came in by Northwestern, including three doubles in the game.
Raul Garcia turned in a nice scoreless inning of relief, as both Edwards and Garcia put zeros up on the board in each of the last four innings.
The Pirates will have their first home games of 2023 against Doane University on Saturday and Sunday, March 4-5. Â
Watch the live action here.
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