Workman-like Gauchos construct win over Panthers

The Casa Grande High School boys baseball Gauchos packed their lunches and went to work Friday afternoon, constructing a 6-2 win over Santa Rosa’s sometimes jittery Panthers.|

The Casa Grande High School boys baseball Gauchos packed their lunches and went to work Friday afternoon, constructing a 6-2 win over Santa Rosa’s sometimes jittery Panthers.

Playing at home, Casa built its win on the craftsman-like pitching of Chris Joaquim, a few key hits and solid defense.

“Chris threw very well and I was happy with the way we played defense,” Casa Grande coach Paul Maytorena said.

The sophomore pitched the seven-inning distance, allowing just four hits, walking two and striking out two. Mostly, he had the Panthers rolling the ball on the ground where the Gaucho inner-defense of first baseman Austin Garatti, second baseman Blake Berry, third baseman Spencer Torkelson and shortstop Tyler Moore gobbled up everything moving.

Casa had just seven hits, but took advantage of five walks and four Panther errors to put runners on base in every inning.

Casa Grande followed its blueprint perfectly to manufacture two runs in the first inning, scoring on a walk to Nick Bostow, Berry’s sacrifice, Torkelson’s single and a wild pitch. Garatti drove in Torkelson with the first of his two hits.

The decisive inning was the third, when Santa Rosa had all kinds of trouble throwing to anyone wearing a Panther uniform following inning-starting hits by Casey Longaker and Garatti. Justin Bruihl successfully sacrificed, and the Panthers threw the ball all over the place on grounders by Eric Parnow and Joey Markam as two runs scored. Moore pushed home the third run of the inning on a successful safety squeeze.

Torkelson drove home an unneeded insurance run in the sixth.

Meanwhile, Joaquim had a few ragged moments but mostly controlled the Panthers.

He gave up a run in the fourth on a walk, a single by Marcus Hollingsworth and Jordan Walker’s sacrifice fly. That inning might have escalated had Bostow in right field not made a back-to-the-infield basket catch of Walker’s drive.

Casa graciously handed Santa Rosa a second run in the fifth on a walk, a hit batter and an RBI ground out by Richard Prentice.

But, when the Gauchos picked up their tools to go home, they carried with them their ninth win, with five losses, and their third win in four NBL games.

Earlier in the week, Casa went bat bonkers in an 18-2 clubbing of Ukiah in a North Bay League game played in Ukiah.

Casa rapped 20 hits in its biggest bat assault of the season.

Nine Gauchos contributed to the attack led by Berry, Longaker and Markham with three hits apiece. Longaker also drove in two runs and scored three. Berry scored three runs and Markham two.

Garatti had two hits, scored a run and drove in a run; Torkelson doubled twice, drove in four runs and scored two; Moore had a hit, scored twice and drove in a run; Bruihl singled, scored and drove home a run; Joaquim doubled, singled, drove in three runs and scored twice; Avery Ayala singled and drove in a run; and Parnow tripled, drove in three runs and scored twice.

Pitching life was easy for winner Jack Hill, who allowed two runs in three innings, striking out five for the win. Jon Christy pitched three scoreless innings and Bruihl one.

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