The Tucson Golden Aces (60-and-over division) lost to the El Paso Diablos in the opening playoff round at the Mens Senior Baseball League (MSBL) World Series this morning at Red Mountain Park in Mesa, Arizona.
The Aces, seeded sixth in the playoff round, put in a gutsy performance in its battle against the third-seeded Diablos as they jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third inning on an RBI-single to left field by Ozzie Espinoza. Hector Castillo scored from third on the play. Both players played in the game dispite nagging injuries -- Hector with knee problems...and Ozzie with a pulled hamstring.
It was the seventh game of the series for the Aces, which had a half a dozen players laid up with injuries. Still, the Aces kept its lead into the seventh inning, behind the pitching of Brad Buchan (2-1). Buchan, who already had gone the distance twice in the series...and won, ran out of gas and by his own admission, "I just lost the command of my pitches," gave way to reliever George Gafner.
Before the inning was over, the Diablos plated four runs and then added two more in the eighth enroute to a 6-1 victory. Juan Dominquez pitched the entire nine innings for the Diablos to pick up the win, which allowed the El Paso team to move on to the second round of the playoffs and a meeting with the San Antonio Red Sox. The Aces finished 3-3-1 in the series.
The Tucson Golden Aces (65-and-older division) begin play on Monday and will take on the Terre Haute, Indiana Volkers at 2 p.m. in Peoria at the San Diego Padres spring training facility, field #5.
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