PALM SPRINGS, Calif- The POWER started off a six-game stretch of SCCBL action tonight as the So Cal Bombers tried to snap their three-game slide.
For the POWER it was a must-win. They dropped two to the Bombers earlier this summer, and this game had a huge impact on post-season seeding.
Casey Dill commented after the game, “Even though these games are not playoff games, they are playoff games to us,”
Payton Lobdell got the crucial start for Palm Springs tonight, facing Hayden Jorgenson for the Bombers.
Lobdell came in strong, giving up just one unearned run off a Colby Schultz error, working through the sixth inning.
With the score 1-0 Bombers after Lobdell left, Palm Springs scored a run of their own in the seventh inning to tie the game. San Diego State’s Andrew Brown drove in pinch-running Taylor Grace with an RBI double. The score would be tied at one apiece going into the 10th, but the game was just beginning when extra’s rolled around.
Alex Strizak came in for the top of the 10th to relieve the tiring Bryan Menendez, and the Bombers took advantage. Armando Valencia would drive in two bombers with an RBI double. Valencia scored on an errant throw from Strizak, and Daniel Dominguez would make it 5-1 with an RBI single.
With the game all but over, and the POWER trailing by four in the bottom of the tenth, Bomber reliever Daniel Sandoval would take the mound only to give up a hit to Colby Schultz and then walk six batters to tie the game up at 5-5.
Just as he does in most close games, Gabe Gentner came in to relieve and relieve he did. He pitched four shutdown innings and notched five strikeouts, holding Southern California at bay. Casey Dill would call Gentner a “bulldog” adding, “He just wants the ball and doesn’t want to give it up.”
The score would stay 5-5 with Gentner’s help until the bottom of the 14th inning when Taylor Grace would hit an RBI base-hit to drive in Brock Hale and win the game in walk-off fashion. Taylor Grace said about the win, “They weren’t ready and we were.”
Gentner gets the win and Dominique Hernandez of the Bombers will get the loss. The POWER advance to 21-7 on the season and 7-4 in conference.
The Bombers come in tomorrow at 7:05 to play the POWER again at Palm Springs Stadium. Tomorrow is a giveaway Sunday, so be sure to stop by for early for free Palm Springs gear.
