After dropping their first regular season game of the season at Winslow last Tuesday afternoon, the Holbrook Roadrunners bounced back with an 8-6 home field win over Kingman Academy on Wednesday afternoon.
The Winslow Bulldogs shut out the Birds 6-0, limiting them to just four hits along the way. Winslow collected just five hits, but made the most of those, along with Holbrook’s five errors. The Bulldogs broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the third with three runs. They added another in the fourth, then closed out the scoring with two fifth inning runs. Holbrook left seven runners on base and the Dawgs left six stranded.
Tristan Baldonado worked the mound for four innings, facing 22 batters. He allowed six runs on four hits with five strikeouts and walked three. Nick Robinson pitched two innings, giving up no runs on one hit with three strikeouts and a walk.
At the plate, Gabe Gabaldon went 1 for 3 with a double, walked once and stole one base. Trevor Barton, Michael O’Brien and Baldonado were all 1 for 3. As a team the Roadrunners were struck out nine times by Winslow’s Mathew Ramos and drew just one walk.
The visiting Kingman Tigers took the early lead last Wednesday with a pair of first inning runs. Holbrook cut that lead in half with one run in the bottom half of the opening frame. In the second the Birds took the lead for good with four runs. Kingman Academy made it a 5-3 game with a third inning run, but Holbrook scored once in the fourth then added two more in the fifth to take control of the game. The Tigers tried to mount a challenge with three late inning runs, but came up short, losing by two.
Kingman outhit Holbrook 14 to 10, but the Birds made better use of their 10 hits. Both teams made four errors. The Tigers left nine on base while Holbrook stranded five.
Barton was on the hill for the first six innings, facing 28 batters. He gave up four runs, only two earned, on nine hits with four strike outs and walked two. Cade Maestas pitched one inning, giving up two earned runs on five hits with three strikeouts in the eight batters he faced.
At the dish, Gabaldon went 2 for 2 with an RBI, walked twice and scored twice. Barton helped himself, going 2 for 4 with a double, two RBIs and scored two runs. Maestas was 2 for 4 with a triple and two RBIs. Robinson went 0 for 3, but was hit by a pitch and later scored a run. Baldonado went 2 for 3 with a home run and a double, collected two RBIs and scored twice. Alex Haussman went 1 for 3 and scored once. Scottie Gishie was 1 for 2.
With the win the Roadrunners moved their overall mark to 8-3 and they are 6-1 in the regular season. After playing at Flagstaff on Tuesday afternoon, they will be off until Saturday, March 26, when they travel to St. Johns. On Monday, March 28, they will host Wickenburg.
