Mortensen’s strong performance leads bounce back effort for Devils

By Sebastian Gonzalez,
Bluedevilhub.com Staff–

Following a tough extra innings loss to Napa the day prior, Davis High’s varsity baseball bounced back with a commanding 8-1 win against Pioneer High School on Mar. 11.

Starting on the mound for the Blue Devils in the absence of injured senior Kris Prince was freshman Tyler Mortensen. The quick 1-2-3 inning he recorded in the top of the first radiated confidence, which he carried through his four shutout innings, while needing only a minute 45 pitches to do so.

Mortensen’s pitching however was not the only part of the team which jumped out to a quick start.

The top of the Devil order quickly gave their young pitcher some run support when second baseman and lead-off hitter Drew Gnos reached on a double to left field, and later scored from third by taking advantage of a passed ball.

Shortly after, a throwing error by the Patriot third baseman allowed Andrew Bolich and Nate Curtis to score off of Tyler Gibson’s bunt. To complete the innings scoring, an RBI sac fly to left field by center-fielder Jared McNece scored Gibson from third, giving the Devils had a controlling 4-0 lead.

After a quick second inning, DHS further padded their lead when the top of the order came around in the third inning. A Gibson sac fly again scored Bolich and moved Curtis to third. McNece took his stance in the batter’s box after Gibson and drove a ball into centerfield to score Curtis, increasing the Blue Devil lead to six.

Pioneer starting pitcher Darin Bustamante was pulled following the third inning and replaced by junior Carson Jones to pitch the bottom of the fourth.

The patriots finally put a run on the board in the top of the fifth inning, when junior Isaac De La Torre singled home first baseman Justin Dye from second, lowering to deficit to five.

DHS pitcher Daniel Henrickson took the mound in the sixth inning in place of senior Brendan Pohl, who pitched the fifth, and cruised through the final two frames. One run in both the sixth and seventh innings for the Devils made the final score 8-1, with the Mortensen receiving credit for the win.

Of Mortensen after the game, DHS head coach Dan Ariola said, “he pitched a great ball game, he had really good movement today. We brought him up [from JV] to throw him, with Kris out were a couple of arms down, and we knew what he could do.”

In spite of the impressive performance his team put on Wednesday, Ariola stressed the fact that his team still had a lot to work on before the challenging Delta League schedule begins, but was happy with the way his team bounced back after the loss on Tuesday.

“These guys always bounce back,” Ariola said. “We’ve got a lot of veterans that help guys get better, and they did a great job today.”