Palm Springs Stadium hosted an epic battle Saturday night between the Palm Springs Power and the Inland Valley Legend. The game had everything a baseball fan could hope to see at the ballpark.
Power starter Julian Orozco shoved through the first few innings and had a one run lead entering the fifth inning. A couple of soft hits lead to a Inland Valley rally that tied up the game at one a piece. The Legends added on each inning after giving them a 7-1 lead entering the bottom of the seventh inning. That’s when the Power bats came to life.
Tate Gambill lead off the 7th with a scorched double to right field . UNC-Asheville shortstop Kohl Abrams drove in Gambill with a two out single. Brandon Leon followed that up with an rbi triple into the right field corner.
The Legends tacked on two more insurance runs of their own in the top of the 8th to bring the lead to 9-3. Dom Hughes started another Power rally in the 8th with a four pitch walk. Tate Gambill then hit his second rocket double to drive in Hughes. Gambill then scored on a Tyler Preece ground out. After eight innings the score was 9-6 in favor of the Legends.
Matt Porter shut down the top of the 9th with three strikeouts to send it back to the hot Power bats. In the bottom of the 9th Noah Blythe and Dom Hughes reached by way of base hits and BYU backstop Bryant Ball loaded the bases with a walk. Tyler Preece then walked in a run to bring the Power within one. With the bases loaded and winning run at second base, Abrams grounded a ball up the middle and Legend second baseman Milo Merk fielded it and stepped on second to end the game.
A game for the ages, the Inland Valley Legends won 9-8 giving the Power their first loss of the year. Julian Orozco gets tagged with the loss while Inland Valley starter Johnny Morales picked up the win. The Power fall to 11-1 and look to bounce back on Tuesday against these same Legends at Palm Springs Stadium.
