The Douglas Bulldogs won a wild nine-inning non-conference game Friday edging the Flowing Wells Caballeros 7-6 at Copper King Stadium.
 Bruce Whetten/Douglas Dispatch AJ Acosta slides safely into third base in the Bulldogs game with Flowing Wells last week. The Bulldogs beat the Caballeros 7-6 in nine innings. Douglas is competing at the Salpointe Invitational all this week. |
The Caballeros scored a run in the top of the ninth to go ahead 6-5.
Jason Sanez scored in the bottom half of the inning tying the game at 6-6. With Tony Young on third and one out the Flowing Wells pitchers walked AJ Acosta and Fabian Ochoa hoping to have Douglas hit into an inning ending double play. Instead the Caballero pitcher threw a ball that bounced in the dirt and got away from his catcher allowing Young to score the game ending run.
Douglas struck first with a run in the top of the first as Acosta tripled and later scored when Ochoa doubled giving the Dogs a 1-0 lead.
Ochoa’s RBI single in the third sent Jason Sanez home.
Joel Barredo and Luis Barrios each scored for Douglas in the next inning and Acosta’s run in the top of the fifth gave the Bulldogs what many felt was a comfortable 5-1 lead.
Flowing Wells scored once in the top of the sixth and had two runners on base when the next batter belted a three-run home run tying the game at 5-5.
“Chris had done a good job for us on the mound,” Douglas’ coach Gilbert Rojas said. “One bad pitch and we’re tied.”
Mariscal started the game and went five and two-thirds innings giving up five runs off six hits, fanning one and walking three.
Victor Machado would come on in relief giving up one run off two hits, fanning three and walking one.
Flowing Wells would get a run off Machado in the top of the ninth taking a 6-5 lead.
The Bulldogs would have their chances to score in the sixth and seventh innings as Barredo was on third with no outs and unable to score and another Douglas base runner was picked off at second base in the seventh as the game moved to extra innings.
Douglas had nine hits in the game. Ochoa hit 4 for 4, Sanez was 3 for 4, Acosta 1 for 2 with three walks and Barredo was 1 for 4.
Coach Rojas said his top three and bottom three batters did all their scoring Friday.
“The top and bottom part of our lineup really came through for us,” the coach said. “I thought we battled well.”
The coach said games like this help his team learn and he’s hoping they can benefit from this when league play begins next week.
Douglas reduced its errors from the Desert View game by seven but the two errors the Bulldogs did commit cost Douglas a couple of runs.
On March 9 the Bulldogs were in Tucson taking on Pueblo. That game didn’t get to the bottom of the first when the rains hit forcing the game to be cancelled. That game will be replayed March 29.
The Bulldogs are in Tucson all this week competing in the Salpointe Invitational. Next week Douglas returns to league play hosting Palo Verde on March 23 before going on the road March 25 and 26 to play Santa Rita and Amphi.
Junior varsity
Douglas’ JV-B team improved its record to 5-2 after beating Flowing Wells’ JV-B team 15-5 Saturday at Copper King Stadium.
Grant Watkins was the winning pitcher throwing five innings and giving up five runs off six hits. Fernando Rojas threw one inning in relief.
Flowing Wells led 2-0 going into the bottom of the first when the Bulldogs rallied for four runs taking a 4-2 lead.
After giving up a run to the Caballeros in the top of the second Douglas responded with three more runs in the bottom half of the inning increasing its lead to 7-3.
Up 13-5 going into the bottom of the sixth the young Bulldogs scored two more runs taking a 15-5 lead and forcing the game to be stopped on account of the 10-run mercy rule.
Jorge Garcia and Brian Lomeli each hit 2 for 4 Saturday while Watkins was 2 for 5. Marcos Mungia, Ozzy Moreno and Nick Leigh each were 1 for 4 with Leigh having a triple.
Last Wednesday the JV-B Bulldogs beat Catalina Foothills 9-5.
Mark Romero started the game for Douglas on the hill and went four innings, giving up three runs off four hits. Rojas threw three innings in relief giving up two runs off two hits.
Tied 1-1 heading into the bottom of the second Rojas and Moreno each scored for Douglas giving the Dogs a 3-1 lead. Foothills add a run in the third and one in fourth tying the game at 3-3.
Tied 5-5 Douglas scored four times in the bottom of the sixth taking a 9-5 lead.
Garcia hit 2 for 3 this game, Watkins was 2 for 5; Lomeli, Moreno and Joey Urquijo each were 1 for 4.
On March 8 the Douglas JV-B’s were thumped by CDO 14-1 and on March 6 the Bulldogs took two games from Nogales winning 2-0 in eight innings in game one and 5-2 in game two. The Douglas JV-B’s return to action March 22 hosting Buena in a 4 p.m. game at Copper King Stadium.
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