Park University's baseball program came back from Texas to Comfort Field for their season opener on Saturday and Sunday in a four-game series with Viterbo University (Wisc.). The Pirates secured four more wins on the weekend to get off to their first 8-0 start since the 2009 season.
GAME 1 | W, 7-6 | Box Score
Errors plagued the V-Hawks in the first game of the series with three errors through the first two innings. Viterbo worked around the two first inning errors, but the second inning was a different story has Park capitalized with five hits in the inning for five runs. The inning started with a single by
Zayne Morrow, which then was followed up by three consecutive singles by
Dalton Short,
Yadiel Santana, and
Alex Rodriguez.
Billy Rivera then scored two on a double down the right field line.
Gilberto Torres was able to scored
Alex Rodriguez on a dropped sacrifice fly. The error on the sacrifice fly by the centerfielder allowed Rivera to score from second as well for the fifth run.
Guillermo Gelpi went a strong five innings pitched, starting with two scoreless innings. The V-Hawks were able to bounce back and score runs in each of the next four innings to tie the game at 6-6.
Bryce Perdieu tied his assistant coach's career appearance record in this game as he came in to pitch a scoreless and hitless seventh inning to preserve the tie.
Adam Clay was second all-time at Park in appearances with 50 and later Perdieu would be called upon again to move into second spot in that category with 51 appearances in his five seasons at Park.
This would set the stage for the Pirates, who led off the inning with a groundout, but then Morrow blistered a line-drive over the centerfield fence for the walk-off home run. Morrow was called upon for a Pirate Post-Game following the series.
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GAME 2 | W, 5-1 | Box Score
In game two, Park got a run in the first two innings. Once again errors played into the start of the game as two errors in the each of the first two innings allowed
Alex Rodriguez to score in the first inning and
Corey Bradford in the second on an error by the V-Hawks shortstop.
Raul Garcia was going strong throughout the game and only had one run come across, which was sparked by a runner reaching on a passed ball off of a strikeout. The next hitter doubled to score the lone run for Viterbo. Garcia ended up striking out eight for the game with zero earned runs on five hits and one walk in five innings pitched.
A lull in scoring happened during middle innings, but Santana came through in the bottom of the sixth with a two-out single to score two runs. Rodriguez followed suit with a single to right field to score Santana after he stole second.
Alex Lozada and Perdieu closed out the sixth and seventh to hold Viterbo to a 5-1 game.
GAME 3 | W, 15-2 | Box Score
Adam Stilts kept the solid pitching performances going on Sunday with five shutout innings on five hits, two walks, and two strikeouts.
The offense came to play on day two with a six run first inning. The V-Hawks had difficulty out of the gate with three walks to begin the game. Five hits then would pour in, starting with
Victor Sanchez-Ramos with a single to centerfield to score two runs. Morrow and Penrod both would double after this for an additional three runs. Bradford would round off the scoring with a RBI single through the left side of the infield.
Five more runs came in during the third inning for Park with four hits and a V-Hawk error. Torres showed off some power to cap off the inning with a two-run home run off the leftfield foul pole.
Johnson would hit a home run in his first at-bat on Comfort Field in the bottom of the sixth inning to make it 15-0. Two runs would score in the top of the seventh, but Park would easily win 15-2.
John Brady and
Dane Blankenship got an innings worth of work on the hill to close out the game.
GAME 4 | W, 7-2 | Box Score
Bryan Aguirre started the final game of the series with another five inning performance like Stilts. Aguirre matched stilts with five strikeouts as well.
Ricardo Hernandez kept it simple at the plate and hit a grounder ball out to move runners and score the game's first run. Torres was able to single to right field to keep the inning going and make it 2-0.
Another two runs came in the bottom of the second.
Daniel Maldonado brought some power with a double down the left field line to score one. Rodriguez then hit a sacrifice fly to bring in the fourth run of the game.
A run in the third and the fifth inning for the V-Hawks got them back within two runs, but the Pirates were awakened for another three runs between the last two innings for the 7-2 win. Hernandez first broke the silence with a solo home run to left field in the bottom of the fifth, then Rivera tripled to score Rodriguez in the sixth. Hernandez was able to come up to the plate another time for the sacrifice fly to score Rivera.
Seth Brecheen and
Michael Hoffman each would toss an inning and each recorded a strikeout to finish out the game.
The Pirates will immediately turn their attention to their first series in Heart of America Conference play with No. 13 MidAmerica Nazarene University back at Comfort Field on Friday and Saturday, March 1-2. Both days will be noon starts.
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