Stars ‘pen, homers, conquer the Crush

By Nick Pellegrino
Updated: July 11, 2022

Ryan Stillman, pitching for the Academy of Arts University in San Francisco / courtesy photo

2022 SAN DIEGO STARS SUMMER COLLEGIATE BASEBALL

ECS staff report

LAKESIDE — The battle of the bullpens saw the San Diego Stars dominated the Poway-based San Diego Crush, tallying 13 tumes in their final two trips to the plate to register a simingly one-sided 16-8 triumph Thursday(July 7) at Hostetler Field.

Trailing all contest, the Stars finally pulled even at 3-all, only to see an error allow a pair of unearned runsto score in the seventh inning.

Ryan Stillman

While Stars relievers Ryan Skillman (MDC ’16), Academy of Arts ’22) and Gavin Perry stopped the Crush over the final 3.2 innings, the bats collected six runs in the seventh, then seven more in the eighth to overcome a 5-3 deficit in Western Baseball Association action.

The unearned run looked to be enough to hang a lose on Stars starting pitcher Luke Gentry, as Stillman entered to get out of the seventh with no other damage.

Perry then fired the final two innings, gaining the save when the offense erupted against the Crush relief staff.

The comeback effort did not take long. Following a walk to Jason Gonzalez, Mateo Medina pumped to a 2-run, game-tying homer above the center field terrace at El Capitan High.

And the Stars kept shooting.

Jonathan Marshall followed with a double. Then with two outs, four additional runs came home.

Included with an RBI triple Kip Famolaro for the lead, Brady Joslyn walked, then Joey Krug powered a 3-run home run, also to center field.

In the eighth, key hits included, the opening four batters all walked for a runn, then Danny Zapeda singled for another run as the Crush quickly folded.

The Stars finished with 14 basehits, including three by Marshall, and two each from Ethan Wright, Luke Arias, Zapeda and Krug.

The Stars will step out of WBA play on Saturday, meeting the Palm Springs Power in the Coachella Valley at 7:05 p.m.