By Alex Gratys
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – On a warm Friday evening at Palm Springs Stadium, fans of both the POWER and the Arroyo Seco Sentinels were treated to many ups and downs in a crazy game that saw the POWER take an 8-0 lead, give up nine runs in the fifth to the Sentinels and comeback in the bottom of the eighth thanks to a Billy Johnson (York College) grand slam to win 13-9.
John Mauldin (University of New Orleans) went yard in the top of the first after connecting wit a breaking ball for his fourth home run of the season and put the POWER up 1-0 early. Taylor Meilleur (St. Mary’s) knocked in Cody Ducote (University of New Orleans) in the second to take a 2-0 lead. The POWER would hit four straight singles in the third to extend their lead to 4-0 and put up another four in the fourth after batting around and taking a 8-0 lead.
Vanguard University righty Jordan Dreibelbis took the ball for his fifth start of the year and got through four innings unscathed before running into his worst inning of the year in the fifth. The Sentinels would bat around themselves as part of a nine-run fifth inning to take a 9-8 lead.
Darin May (Riverside City College) came in and shut the door on the Sentinels’ offense, pitching three innings and striking out eight to earn the victory. Arroyo Seco reliever James Giambalvo came in to pitch the eighth and loaded the bases for Billy Johnson, who hit his second home run of the year on a 1-1 pitch and the first grand slam of his career.
“Definitely the first (grand slam) of my career, I hardly ever hit home runs so that was nice,” Johnson said of his four-run round-tripper.
The POWER went on to win the game 13-9 and improved to 14-2 on the season, good enough for first place in the SCCBL standings. Palm Springs will take on these same Sentinels tomorrow evening at 7:05.
POWER Box Score
