On a windy Tuesday, the black squad held on to win game 1 of the pizza series, thanks to Jamori Blash’s (Virgin Islands) late 2 run triple and Abel Avitia’s (Arizona) command in relief. Both came up big offensively and pitched as they won 7-4 in 10 innings.
Blash, Logan Bottrell (Nevada), and Robert Valenzuela (Arizona) each had a multi-hit game. Blash went 3 for 5, nearly achieving the cycle and missing a home run, ending the game with 3 RBIs and 1 run scored. Bottrell ended the game going 5 for 5 with a key double to start the rally in the 10th inning and Valenzuela went 2 for 4, with an RBI to power the bottom of the line-up. On the pitching side, Jordon West (Utah) settled in after the third, throwing five innings, giving up four runs, all earned, walking four, and striking out 10, while only giving up five hits. But the talk of the day was Avitia, who had been struggling with command in the fall, came to pitch, shutting out the Red Squad and throwing five innings, walking one, striking out six, and giving up only one hit.
Red Squad struggled offensively, with only two guys giving any excitement to that dugout. Luis Hidalgo (New York) went 1 for 3, reaching base 3, but only scoring once, giving the Red Squad enough chances to score. The only excitement that came to that dugout was a 3 run blast to left field by Richard Zapata (New York) that gave the Red Squad a lead going into the 4th inning, after that West and Avitia said “ SHHHH” to the bats as they were held scoreless for the rest of the game.
The Red Squad looks to Tyler Fallwell (Arizona) to come up big on the pitching side as his roommate Juan Aguilera (Arizona) looks to keep the Red Squad bats quiet for another game. Come join the Apache Baseball team @ Apache Field @ 2:20 pm for game 2.