On Wednesday the Pinnacle Panthers welcomed in the Green River Pirates for the only time in the regular season. With the Pirates up 7-0 going into the bottom of the fourth Pinnacle used an eight-run inning to take the lead but the Pirates fought back to win the high-scoring affair 15-10.
Green River got on the board first scoring a single run in the opening inning when Cristian Mendoza sent a grounder to third driving in Antonio Macias. Moving into the second inning Gabriel Quintana hit a ground ball to right field that allowed Rolando Anguiano home. A pair of batters later Macias came to the plate sending a fly ball to the shortstop allowing Mauricio Hernandez to score from third. Mendoza sent a double to left driving in Macias to put the score at 4-0.
After holding the Panthers scoreless in the second the Pirates picked up right where they had left off Anguiano scored on a passed ball and then the next batter Jason Hernandez sent a ground ball to short the scored Mauricio Hernandez. In the next at-bat, Macias sent a roller to left field scoring Quintana from second to put the score at 7-0 heading into the bottom of the third.
Pinnacle went three up and three down in the bottom half of the inning but came back out for the top of the fourth holding Green River scoreless in the frame with a double play ball from the bat of Jesus Escalante. The Panther bats came alive in the bottom of the inning, as Carlos Alcon singled in the lead-off spot. After a pair of walks, Bryson Shumway sent a grounder to center field bringing in Alcon and Brody Howell. With one out on the board, the Panthers had a little rally starting with Dominick Vigil’s single to right, bringing Dominick Huitt in to score. With the bases loaded Kaydence Romero drew a walk scoring Shumway. Joey Howell came up to the plate, and Riley Davis scored on a passed ball, Joey Howell would draw a walk in his at-bat. Alcon came up with two on and grounded out to the shortstop as Romero scored to tie the game up at seven. Brody Howell stepped in with a pair of outs, sending a fly ball to center driving in Joey Howell, and giving Pinnacle the 8-7 lead.
The fifth inning was quiet for both sides but in the sixth Mendoza came up to the plate for the Pirates and Macias stole second, after a balk by pitcher Brody Howell, Macias advanced to third and then scored on a passed ball to tie the game. Jarrett Guerrera sent a double to center and with two on Escalante came up sending a single on the ground to left field that drove in Mendoza and Guerrera putting the score at 10-8 as Green River regained the lead.
Moving into the top of the seventh Jason Hernandez came up to the bat with two on and sent a double to left that was just enough to bring in Mauricio Hernandez and Quintana. A couple of batters later Mendoza flew out to right and Jason Hernandez scored from third base. With two outs Macias would steal third and then home and Venzor singled to left field and Guerrera scored from second to put the score at 15-8. In Pinnacle’s final at-bat with one out, Huitt would steal home, and then Derek Trujillo would ground out to first as Shumway would cross the plate to bring the score to 15-10. The Pirates pitcher Jason Hernandez got Vigil looking to end the game giving the Pirates their first win of the season.
For the Panthers, Brody Howell collected a pair of hits, a run, and an RBI. Davis had a pair of hits and one run scored. Vigil and Alcon both had one hit, one RBI and scored a run. Five other players from Pinnacle collected at least one hit in the contest.
On the mound, Joey Howell got the start putting in two innings worth of work giving up six hits and four earned runs while striking out four. Brody Howell came in for five innings surrendering 12 hits and 11 earned runs and struck out four in the loss.
For the Pirates, it was Macias’ day with four hits, four runs, and a pair of RBIs. Mauricio Hernandez collected three hits and scored three runs. Quintana had two hits, two runs, and an RBI. Jason Hernandez and Mendoza each collected two hits, scored one run, and drove in three. Four Green River players collected at least one run in the win.
On the mound, Anguiano got things started going 3.1 with seven hits seven earned, and striking out four. Jason Hernandez closed out the game with three hits, three earned, and struck out three.
Both teams will get back to it on Wednesday when Green River travels to face Altamont and Pinnacle will welcome Bryce Valley to Price.
Game time for the Pinnacle game is set for 3:00 p.m.