Mingus Union High School’s baseball team dropped a high-scoring decision to visiting Greenway High School, 16-13, on Friday, March 16.
The Marauders [5-2, 2-0 Grand Canyon Region] gave up runs in all but the final inning to the Demons [2-6, 1-1 West Valley], including five in the sixth that put things out of reach.
“They played a good game, it doesn’t make any difference what your records are. Somebody’s going to play a better game than the other one, and they did today, and we tip our hats to them and move on,” acting head coach Steve Huson said.
It was the fourth game since four of Mingus’ starters have stopped playing, and head coach Tim McKeever has also since resigned. Younger, less-experienced Marauders have been thrust into the fold, and are still learning. The biggest impact has come on the mound.
It was a long, drawn-out game during which each team collected 14 hits, and the Demons made five errors to Mingus’ four.
“We used two of our starters in Tuesday’s game, so it was going to be more of a team effort to put pitchers out there, and we had a hard time throwing strikes sometimes, so the pitchers have to get better at that,” Huson said. “They’ll get better as they get more opportunities. A lot of these players weren’t expecting to get this many innings on the mound, and now with those guys gone they’re going to get more opportunities. They’ll step up and get better at that.”
Mingus junior right fielder Justin Tanner led the way with three hits, including one double and three RBIs.
With junior Joe Machado starting on the mound, Mingus went down 3-0 in the first inning. A leadoff walk turned into the first run before three singles and an error brought in the other two. Machado turned in three innings of work, giving up seven earned runs on 11 hits with three strikeouts and two walks.
In the bottom half of the frame, the Marauders took the lead at 4-3, and save a brief tie at 4-4, would hold onto their advantage until only the top of the third inning.
Mingus senior catcher Tyre Kim hit a leadoff single, junior second baseman Chris Mathe walked before two singles plated them. Machado’s double to deep center field scored the final two runs.
Machado again walked Greenway’s leadoff batter, who was then driven in on Demons senior pitcher James Gamble’s triple. Neither team had a three-up, three-down inning defensively.
Mingus squandered its greatest opportunity at distancing itself from the Demons, which came back to haunt it.
Marauders senior left fielder Marcos Valenzuela drew a leadoff walk, freshman third baseman Jace Taylor singled and Kim walked to load the bases with zero outs. Mingus senior shortstop Skylar Waynick singled in Valenzuela, making it 8-5 in favor of the hosts, but they could not muster any more runs from the threat.
“We needed to have a little better approach at the bat. Our hitting coach had told the batters to swing at certain pitches and we didn’t, and when we did, it was not a good situation,” Huson said. “We need to make sure that we’re working hard and listening to what the coaches are saying.”
Greenway responded immediately to take the lead at 9-8 in the top of the fourth. It got two men on before a base-clearing triple tied the score, then a passed ball gave the lead to the Demons, who would never relinquish it. It also chased Machado from the mound, with Taylor taking over and striking out the next three batters.
Mingus began to believe in a comeback attempt in the fifth inning when it pulled to within one at 11-10. Marauders senior center fielder Jordan Huey, representing the game-tying run, was tagged at home trying to score from second.
But then came the five-run sixth inning that gave the Marauders little time to react. Mathe replaced Taylor on the bump after the deficit increased to 12-10, but walked in a run, hit a batter for a run and threw a wild pitch for a run, and by the inning’s end it was 16-10. Mingus scored three runs in the bottom of the frame, two coming off of Mathe’s single, but could not pull off the comeback.
“It’s good for these younger kids who are being brought up and being able to experience a long, drawn-out varsity game like this,” Waynick said. “It’s good experience, tough loss, but we’ll get through it, we’ll learn from it.”
It hosted Cactus High School on Tuesday, March 20, but results were unavailable at press time. Next up it resumes Grand Canyon Region play, hosting Bradshaw Mountain High School at 3:45 p.m. on Tuesday, March 27.
McKeever resigns, Quesada to take over
The board accepted former head coach McKeever’s resignation letter, according to Mingus Athletic Director Yancey DeVore. DeVore said that in the letter, McKeever cited too much time commitment as his reason for leaving the team.
Erick Quesada, a new teacher at the school as well, is taking over the program as of Wednesday, March 21.
