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Luke Air Force Base shortstop, Danny Anguiano, prepares to slap a tag down on Raul Gonzalez, U.S. Marine Corps, in game two of the varsity baseball double-header Saturday at the Goodyear Ballpark. Falcon second baseman Jacob Ross backs up the throw as Gonzalez steals second on the play.
When the Luke Air Force Base varsity baseball team played their first-round playoff game three weeks ago it felt like a blur. They had to stomach a 9-3 loss to a team they beat by 15 runs three weeks earlier.
After the loss, head coach Nichalos George said if they split their upcoming double-header with the Marines from Camp Pendleton he would forget about the playoff loss.
Coach George can smile now as his Falcons won game one 3-0 Saturday at the Goodyear Ballpark. The Luke team pulled to within a run late, but fell 10-7 in game two. The win marked the first time the Falcons topped the Marines in more than two years. Last year Luke lost twice in a tournament at Nellis AFB, Nev., and then was beaten up on the Marines home field 15-1 and 14-3.�We came out with a fast start and were aggressive in the first game and I was very surprised,� George said. �This was one of the first times all year I�ve actually had to tell this team to slow down.�
The game-one shutout came thanks to starter Paul Mezzetta�s gem.
He gave up just one hit and three walks over nine innings. He also picked up ten strikeouts. The Marines managed just six base-runners.
Coach George was happy to see Mezzetta bounce back from being starter in the playoff loss three weeks ago.
�During the playoff game he was the same pitcher we saw today but he got rocked,� George said. �For him to come back and play an even better team and shut them down over nine innings when we normally only play seven, it�s the Mezz I know.�Jose Perez� ground-out to second base in the fourth brought in a run and was all the Falcons would need. Chad Jennings and Gary Nelson also singled in runs. Paul Madrid picked up two singles in three at-bats.
The Marines looked like they would run away with game two.
Down 8-2, the Falcons scored a run in the fourth and then four more the next inning. Luke appeared to tie up the game when Henry Cotto stole third. A wild throw from the catcher ended up in left field, allowing him to score. The home-plate umpire called interference on the hitter, sending Cotto back to second.
That is as close as the Falcons got.
After an uneventful sixth inning, the Marines scored twice in the seventh. When the Falcons failed to tie it up in the bottom of the frame, the game ended because they reached a predetermined time limit.
�The end of game two was what Luke baseball is all about,� George said. �We hit the ball very well and we came back.�
Half of the Falcons will head to Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma for the Air Force Bash in two weeks. The other half will play the first two games of their summer league in Peoria that same weekend.
�We�re getting toward the end of our season,� George said. �We finish in the beginning of November with maybe one tournament after that. All around, this is one of our better years.�
Story and photo by 2nd Lt. RYAN DECAMP
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