With just four games left to play in the regular season, the Pacifica Mariners baseball team picked up two more victories last week, defeating Tustin and Western, to move closer in its quest for the 2012 Empire League baseball championship.
To do so, the Mariners’ impressive starting pitching, led by Kyle Davis and Max Bethell, had to come through once again collect two complete-game shutouts and throw the team’s sixth and seventh shutouts of the season.
With just four games left to play in the regular season, the Pacifica Mariners baseball team picked up two more victories last week, defeating Tustin and Western, to move closer in its quest for the 2012 Empire League baseball championship.
To do so, the Mariners’ impressive starting pitching, led by Kyle Davis and Max Bethell, had to come through once again collect two complete-game shutouts and throw the team’s sixth and seventh shutouts of the season.
The 14 scoreless innings, supplied by the starters, runs the Mariners’ pitching staff’s scoreless string to 16 innings dating back to their game against Kennedy on April 27.
On May 2, Pacifica picked up a 5-0 victory over Tustin High School on the road behind Kyle Davis’s complete game shutout over the Tillers.
The Mariners would get on the scoreboard, scoring three runs in the third inning to go up 3-0. Tanner Negrette would start the inning off with a one-out single to left. Cody Bistline would fallow with a double, putting runners in scoring position for Pacifica. Trent Chatterton would step up and deliver a run scoring fly ball to make it 1-0. After that, Jono Herkins would single to score Bistline and Davis would double to drive in Herkins for the inning’s final run.
In the fourth inning, Pacifica would add another run after Devan Campos would load the bases with a bunt single with nobody out. The next batter, Negrette, would ground into a 6-4-3 double play that allowed Max Bethell to score from third to give the Mariners a 4-0 lead.
Pacifica would put an insurance run on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh when Herkins, who singled earlier in the inning, scored on an error by Tustin’s shortstop Adalberto Carrillo to make it 5-0 after six and a half innings.
The senior Davis started the bottom of the seventh inning for the Mariners, striking out the first two batters he faced and then hit Christopher Quintero with the ball to put a runner on first base. The right-hander would end the game getting Tustin’s Cesar Garcia to ground out to Negrette at second base for the final out and earn the shutout victory over the Tillers.
Kyle Davis was the player of the game, tossing seven innings, allowing only two hits, striking out three and collecting an impressive 14 groundball outs in another solid outing, lowering his season ERA to a microscopic 1.28 for Pacifica. Davis was also 2 for 3 at the plate with a RBI.
On May 4, Pacifica hooked up in a classic pitching duel against Empire League opponent Western High School at home as Max Bethell battled the Pioneers’ starter, Travis Hammond.
Both pitchers put goose eggs up on the scoreboard through the first five innings but it would be Pacifica that would break through to score the game’s only run in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs, Matt Gilbody and Bethell would hit back-to-back doubles to take a 1-0 lead going into the top of the seventh inning.
The left handed Bethell, who had been cruising along, allowing only two hits all game, would give up back-to-back singles with one out to Adrian Lopez and Reno Robledo. The senior would then settle down, getting Western’s Alexx Johnson to ground out for the second out of the inning and Jacob Warken to fly out to Gilbody in right field to end the game, giving Pacifica a 1-0 victory for its eighth straight Empire League win.
For Max Bethell, the win moved his Orange County leading total for wins on the season to nine and improved his overall record to 9-1 with a low 1.72 ERA. Bethell allowed four hits, struck out eight batters and picked up his third complete game shutout for the year for the Mariners.
Western’s Travis Hammond took the hard luck loss, dropping his record to 1-1 on the season. The sophomore pitched six strong innings, giving up just three hits and allowing one run while keeping the Mariners’ hitters off balance all game.
With the loss, Western falls to 2-8 in the Empire League standings and to 12-13 overall for the season. Pacifica, the seventh-ranked team in Orange County, improves to 9-1 in Empire League play to remain tied with Cypress, who has an identical 9-1 record. However, the Mariners do hold the tiebreaker over the Centurions having defeated Cypress, the sixth-ranked team in Orange County, 3-2 earlier in the Empire League season.
With just two Empire League games left on Pacifica’s regular season schedule and the fact that they hold the tiebreaker against Cypress, the Mariners are in control of their own destiny. Win the final two games and they’ll win the Empire League title.
