By DAVE BELCHER
Moapa Valley Progress
Last week started out real rough. Well, let us say a nightmare. The Moapa Valley High School Baseball team sunk to a season low as they hosted Virgin Valley and was defeated by the Bulldogs 4-2.
After starting the season hitting the ball, all of a sudden the Pirates struggled at the plate.
Cade Anderson pitched a great game for the Bulldogs as the Pirates hit a lot fly ball outs. Anderson struck out just four batters during his four and a third innings. Dillian Fugua finished the final two and two-third innings. The Bulldogs pitching allowed three Pirate hits; two of which came off the bat of Gavin Hadley who drove in the only Pirate runs of the game in the fifth inning with a two-run single.
Coby Longman pitched a good game for the Pirates as he struck out six Bulldogs but suffered by his defense and their four errors.
Virgin Valley hit two doubles and Jayden Perkins drove in a run.
Virgin Valley scored two runs in the fourth inning and added two more in the top of the fifth to take a 4-0 lead headed into the bottom of the fifth inning. That is when Hadley drove in the Pirate runs.
It was just two years ago that the Pirates blew out the Bulldogs 36-0 in the desert Classic in Mesquite. A good memory that will have to get us through for the next couple of weeks.
Last Thursday was a better result as the Pirates beat SECTA 13-6 in Las Vegas. The Roadrunners scored a run in the bottom of the first inning and held that lead until the top of the third. That is when Moapa Valley scored two runs. The Pirates added three runs in the fourth, three runs in the fifth and five runs in the seventh. Four of the five runs in the seventh came from the bat of Chase Guesman who hit a grand slam to give the Pirates a 13-2 lead headed into the bottom of the seventh.
Then the Pirates fell asleep. SECTA capitalized on Pirates errors to score four runs in the bottom of the seventh. Moapa Valley committed seven in all.
Guesman and Hadley each had two hits Guesman had the grand slam and a double. Hadley drove in three runs himself.
Drew Cole and Gabe Kermode each had two hits for the Roadrunners they also scored an RBI.
The Pirates will host Chaparral and Boulder City on Wednesday and Friday. The Pirates need to win these games this week to help in the playoff hunt. Currently, the Pirates are in fourth place in the Sunrise. The top four in the Sunset and Sunrise will qualify for the regional tournament.
