Guerra pitching, opportunistic offense lead to date with Corpus Christi Carroll
By Mark Kusenberger
tsrnsports.com
Special to SAsports.com
Joey Guerra limited a powerful O’Connor offense to two runs, and the Marshall Rams took advanced of an error-prone Panther defense on their way to an 8-2 victory at Saturday afternoon at Northside Field #2.
With the win, Marshall clinched third place and advances to the playoffs to play 27-5A runner-up Corpus Christi Carroll. O’Connor finishes in fourth place and will play 27-5A champion Corpus Christi Ray in bi-district.
The result eliminated Jay from playoff contention. Had O’Connor beaten Marshall, O’Connor would have finished in third place, then Marshall would have played Jay for fourth place.
Guerra threw 94 pitches in his 8 inning complete game, giving up 8 hits, 2 runs – both earned – walking 1, hitting 2 batters, and striking out 2.
O’Connor took the lead in the second when Josh McElroy doubled to the center field wall, then scored two outs later on a single by Daniel Blankenship.
Marshall tied the game in the third on a rally started by a one-out double by Ty Marron. Marron’s courtesy runner Derek Schroeder went to third on a wild pitch, then Bobby Saenz walked. On the first pitch to Josh Vanta, Saenz broke for second; the catcher’s throw went to center field, and that error allowed Schroeder to score, tying the game at one.
Marshall took the lead for good with a two-out rally in the fourth. Marcus Uechi walked, then went to second on a wild pitch. Roman Alfaro walked, then Ory Kalenkosky singled to left field. The hit scored Uechi and advanced Alfaro to second; when the left fielder bobbled the ball, Alfaro went to third, then when the left fielder threw the ball over the third baseman’s head, Alfaro scored. Marshall led 3-1 after four.
By then, the tone had been set. Due to a fluke in scheduling, O’Connor was playing their fourth game in five days, while Marshall was playing only their second. While Joey Guerra was pitching his normal term for Marshall coach Bruce Holmes, O’Connor coach David Collenback had a depleted pitching staff.
Freshman Landon Thompson (2-2) was the starter; in four innings, he gave up three runs, only one earned. He gave up only three hits, but walked seven.
Once O’Connor started changing pitchers, Coach Collenback had to shuffle his defense to keep his batting order intact. As a result, to get his each of his four pitchers on the hill, he ended up three players each in center field, at second base, and at third base. Marshall took advantage of 7 O’Connor errors and ten walks to score 8 runs, only 2 earned.
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