Road Victory for #17 Mesa Baseball at Paradise Valley, 7-1 Final
Paradise Valley, AZ - The mixture of Cameron Doherty and good defense was a tough formula to beat Friday afternoon at Paradise Valley as the T-Birds took a 7-1 victory from the Pumas.
Doherty earned his second win of the week, as he pitched eight innings, allowed just four hits and walked only one. The one blemish was a solo homerun in the second inning but Doherty battled right through, recording a three-up, three-down inning five times out of his eight innings.
Behind Doherty, the Mesa defense make highlight reel plays to help its right-hander. Right-fielder Luke Patty made two great diving catches, one of which he was able to double-up the runner at first. Short-stop Corey Chaplin made a fantastic diving stab to end an inning and catcher Zach Wagner threw out the lone base stealer Paradise Valley attemted.
Offensively, Mesa collected 12 hits on the day while also drawing five walks. Taylor Darden knocked in the first run of the day for Mesa when he singled in Paul Steffensen in from third, making a 1-1 game at that point. A three spot in the third inning pushed the T-Birds lead to 4-1 and with runs in the seventh inning and two in the eighth, Mesa collected its 32nd win of the season.
The Pumas and T-Birds will be right back in action on Saturday at MCC beginning at 12 pm.