Talk about taking a walk, or runs, on the wild side.
Gilroy – Talk about taking a walk, or runs, on the wild side.
Gilroy tried to give away its Tri-County Athletic League game to Palma in every way imaginable, but the Chieftains returned the favor in the bottom of the eighth.
And the Mustangs were happy to escape with a 12-11 eight-inning win over visiting Palma.
“We have to put a team away when we have a 9-3 lead,” starting pitcher Jacob Dexter said. “They’re definitely a good team. I just think we need to bear down.”
Gilroy led 5-1 after two innings and 9-3 after five. It wasn’t enough.
Dexter, who pitched five solid innings, tired in the sixth and his defense let him down as well.
Two walks sandwiched around Michael Dinner’s RBI double put runners at first and second with one out. Jacob Ohman laced a line single to left field that rolled past the outfielder as two runs scored. A wild pitch allowed the fourth run of the inning to score.
Kevin Grove doubled and scored on Lukas Fortino’s single to put Gilroy (7-7 overall, 2-0 TCAL) ahead 10-7 heading into the seventh. The inning started with the Mustangs’ fifth error of the game, and Palma tied it on Ohman’s sacrifice fly and Brian Reader’s two-run single.
Dexter tripled with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but he was stranded there. The Chieftains (4-8, 0-2) also put a runner on third base with one out in the eighth, and Jaime Vega’s sacrifice fly put Palma ahead 11-10. Vega, Ohman and Reader all had two RBIs for the Chieftains.
Orlando Felix got things started for GHS in the eighth with a single. He moved up a base on a wild pitch. Danny Contreras was safe on an error, and stole second. After a pop out and strikeout, Dexter was intentionally walked. Two wild pitches allowed Felix and Contreras to score and give the Mustangs their third straight win.
“Unreal,” said GHS coach Clint Wheeler after the three-hour, 20-minute game. “Through four we played fine. The second four we didn’t play well at all. We have to find out ways to win defensively or offensively rather than have it handed to us.”
Michael Stevens had three hits and two RBIs for Gilroy, which had 11 hits in the game. Felix and Dexter had two hits apiece. Kevin Grove came to bat six times and went 1 for 1 with three walks, a hit by pitch and a sacrifice fly. The Mustangs stranded 13 baserunners through seven innings, leaving the bases loaded four times.
“It was a game we had to have this early in the (league) season,” Wheeler said. “It would have been terrible to have lost this game.”
The Mustangs are off until Thursday when they visit San Benito for a 4pm game.
Palma 101 104 31 – 11 9 3
Gilroy 140 401 02 – 12 11 5
Terrell, Morris (2), Creecy (4), De la Santos (4), Sylvia (6), Speciale (6), Reader (8) and Schulman; Dexter, Stevens (7) and Fortino. W-Stevens. L-Reader. 2B-PAL, Morris, Dinner; GIL, Hemeon, Grove. 3B-GIL, Dexter.
