Photos courtesy of Cartershots
After a dominant 11-1 performance on Monday afternoon, the Pampa Harvesters (2-0) followed up with a 17-0 win over San Jacinto Christian Academy Patriots. Seniors Boston Botello and Jack Dyer both hit home runs in the performance. For the former, it was his second home run in as many games.
“Early games like this where you can put some runs on the board makes you feel good going forward,” Head Coach Austin Samulowitz said. “Grey came out today and is not super-experienced on the bump and threw five solid innings for us. I think he had struck out 11. So we are really excited to see our new faces come out and play good baseball.”
Greyson Paronto
Senior Greyson Paronto was on the mound and pitched a complete-game shutout with 11 strikeouts and four walks.
“So we had to talk Grey back into playing his sophomore year, so it’s been a developmental thing the last two years,” Samulowitz said. “He played a reliever role for us last year and we are looking forward to him stepping up to take our No. 2 pitching spot. The way he pitched today, I could totally see that happening.”
Paronto got the ball rolling early, striking out the first two batters he faced to hold San Jacinto scoreless in the opening frame. In the Pampa half of the first, Botello hit his second home run of the season, plating fellow senior Max Neff and giving Pampa the 2-0 lead. Senior Jaime Soto reached on a base hit, followed by a two-out hit by pitch by Senior Clayton Rogers. Soto would score on a steal of home during Junior Gage Gamblin’s at bat and the Harvesters led 3-0 after the first.
It was nothing doing for San Jac in the second, and the young freshman Austin Hunt reached on a dropped third strike to lead off the second. Junior Cy LeBlanc did the job on a bunt to advance Hunt to second. Neff drew a walk to load the corners leading to Hunt scoring on a fielder’s choice on a Botello grounder. Dyer hit a line drive on the ensuing at bat to score courtesy runner for Neff, Junior Evan Orand, and Pampa led 5-0. Soto got the RBI during the next at bat and Pampa led 6-0 after two.
“Austin Hunt has had a great spring, he’s a freshman so this was only his second varsity start,” Samulowitz said. “He’s a quiet kid, but he comes in and works. That’s what we like about him. He doesn’t say a whole lot, he just comes out and plays. I’m excited for what the future holds for him.”
Paronto notched two more punch-outs during the San Jacinto half of the third. Gamblin was hit by a pitch to reach with one out. Hunt had a base hit to left followed by an RBI single from LeBlanc. Neff and Botello added RBI base hits to extend Pampa’s lead to 10-0 after three.
Parotno retired the side after the lone hit by the Patriots.
Rogers and Gamblin led off the fourth with a pair of base hits. Hunt hit a sac fly to score Rogers. LeBlanc grounded into a fielder’s choice to plate Gamblin. Botello hit a base hit before a two-run shot from Dyer gave Pampa the 16-0 lead. Junior Kamden Snelgrooes would later score after an RBI single from Hunt.
“Jack’s first home run this season and second of his varsity career was a huge boost for his confidence and our offense today,” Samulowitz said.
The Harvesters returned to action on Saturday when they traveled to Vernon for their annual double-header.
“Last year Vernon was here for two, so this year we are going there for two,” Samulowitz said “They are going to be tough. They’ve got a really good all district catcher behind the plate and they have a lefty who throws really well. We are looking forward to going down there and playing some good baseball.”
Stat Round-Up
Senior Greyson Paronto pitched five innings with one hit, 11 strikeouts and four walks. He also nabbed the win in the process.
Senior Max Neff went 2-2 with two runs scored, an RBI, a stolen base and one walk; Freshman Phoenix Lopez went 1-1 with a run scored; Senior Boston Botello went 3-4 with a home run, two runs scored, seven RBI; Senior Jack Dyer went 2-2 with a home run, two runs scored and three RBI; Senior Jaime Soto went 2-3 with two stolen bases and a run scored; Junior Evan Orand had a run scored; Junior Kamden Snelgrooes had a run scored; Senior Clayton Rogers went 2-3 with a run scored and three stolen bases; Junior Gage Gamblin went 1-1 with two runs scored, drew a walk and stole a base; Freshman Austin Hunt went 2-3 with two runs scored, two RBI and a stolen base; and Junior Cy LeBlanc went 1-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.