GILBERT — Tuesday’s non-conference contest between the Perry and Gilbert baseball teams appeared, on paper, to be a tight contest, as the guest Bluejays were 10-4 entering the game while the Tigers were 12-2.
Those expecting a close game got what they wanted, as the hosts prevailed, 5-4, in eight innings. What few would have expected were 11 combined errors that meant only three of the nine runs scored in the game were earned.
Perry committed seven errors and were finally done in by a miscue, as two errors surrounded a single to allow the game-winning run to score.
Will Whiton reached on the first of four Gilbert errors to lead off the game, with Whiton stealing second and then scoring on a Nic Wilhelmi base hit.
Gilbert used two singles and a RBI-ground out to tie the game in the bottom of the first, with Janier Puente being hit by a pitch, moving up on an Alex Long single and scoring on a Whiton base hit as Perry moved back in front, 2-1, in the second.
The Tigers scored twice on a pair of walks with the bases-loaded in their half of the second for a 3-2 lead, but Wihelmi walked, moved up on an error and raced home on a passed ball to again knot the score, this time at 3-all, in the third.
A double, outfield error and single pushed the hosts in front, 4-3, in the home half of the third, and the score remained unchanged until the top of the seventh, when Whiton reached on an error, stole second and tied the game on a Wilhelmi single.
Gilbert stranded a runner on third in the bottom of the seventh, with Perry loading the bases with two down in the top of the eighth only to strand all three runners.
Nick Day reached on an error to start the bottom of the eighth, moved up on a Dax Hatfield hit and scored on the seventh Perry misplay of the game with Jared Gescheidler batting to give the hosts the victory.
Hatfield was 3-for-5 for Gilbert, with Day and Barrett Schonefeld each tallying two hits.
Schonefeld threw five innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on three hits and three walks while striking out five. The win went to Hatfield in his three innings of relief, during which he yielded an unearned run on three hits and a walk while fanning one.
Whiton, Wilhelmi, Long, Adan Medina, Zach Roberts and Kyle Nevitt all had singles for Perry.
Blake Lansing went two frames, allowing three runs (one earned) on three hits and two walks, with Medina pitching two innings of four-hit, one-walk ball in which one earned run scored. Long yielded a hit in one inning on the hill, with Puente assessed the loss in two stanzas on the hill, as he was touched for an unearned run on three hits while tallying two strikeouts.
Perry travels to ADM tonight and returns to Progressive Field Thursday to face Saydel.
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GILBERT 5, PERRY 4 (8)
at Gilbert, June 16
Team R H E
PRY 111 000 10 — 4 6 7
GLB 121 000 01 — 5 11 4
PRY: Lansing (2), Medina (2), Long (1), Puente (2) and Roberts. GLB: Schonefeld (5), Hatfield (3) and n/a. WP: Hatfield. LP: Puente. 2B — GLB: Day, Schonefeld. LOB — PRY: 8; GLB: 11.
