2019 25+ Cactus
Tri-Valley Diablos 9, Cen Cal Nuts 4
By Steve LaMontia, Director of Communications
October 20, 2019, HoHoKam Stadium, Mesa, AZ – The Tri-Valley Diablos brought their offense from sunny California as they scored in every one of the first six innings on their way to a dominant 9-4 victory over the Cen Cal Nuts in beautiful HoHoKam stadium, spring training home of the Oakland Athletics. They started the top of the first with back to back singles by Kevin Chirco and Travis Menke, with an RBI single by Kevin Llamas thrown in for good measure, and suddenly it was 2-0 after one.
The Diablos pushed across one in the second inning, three in the third and one more in the fourth, after an adventure with the sun-drenched center field, making it 7-0 before the Nuts plated two in the bottom of the fourth to make a little noise. John Scott had the big blow for the Nuts, as his 2-RBI double drove in Mike Rodriguez and Nick Criswell. But Diablo starting pitcher Kevin Chirco was stingy with the hits, allowing only four through the fourth inning.
David Geiger came in to pitch for the Nuts in the sixth and held the Diablos to one run the rest of the way but the hole was too deep. On the other side of the ledger, Diablo starter Chirco gave way to Matt Kintz after six innings and Kintz shut the door, yielding only three hits through his three innings of work.
Jorden Tappin led the Diablos with a three for five day, including two runs scored and an RBI while MVP Brian Meyer, Kevin Chirco, Kevin Llamas and Jason Hibbeln all kicked in a couple of hits apiece.
Ryan Wells paced the Nuts with a perfect three for three day, including a walk. John Scott and clean-up hitter Mike Rodriguez contributed two hits apiece on the day. Nick Garcia and Chris Lagon threw the first five-plus innings for the Nuts before giving way to Geiger.