DOUGLAS — The Douglas Bulldogs baseball team bounced back from its 11-3 loss to Nogales March 18 with a convincing 16-1 thrashing of the Amphi Panthers Tuesday at Copper King Stadium.
Amphi scored a run in the top of the first but then surrendered 10 to Douglas in the bottom half of the inning as Douglas sent 13 batters to the plate and scored the runs off five hits, the big blow coming from sophomore Aiden Rodriguez, who blasted a three-run home run to give the Bulldogs their nine-run cushion.
After a quick three up-three down by Amphi in the top of the second the Bulldogs came to the plate in the bottom half of the inning and tacked on six more runs off four hits and two Amphi errors.
Victor Daniel-Stuppi started the game on the mound for Douglas and went 2⅔ innings, giving up one run and one hit while fanning three and walking three. Diego Alan Martinez came on in relief.
Douglas finished the game with 12 hits. Diego Alan Ochoa was 3-for-4 with three runs scored and 3 RBI’s; Marco Pena was 2 for 4 with two runs scored and two RBIs; Rodriguez was 1-for-3 with the homer, two runs scored and three RBIs. Yael Cano was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Gerardo Quijada, Aaron Torres, Jay Zamora and Martinez each had one hit.
In the game with bordertown rival Nogales the Douglas scored twice in the top of the third on a two-run single by Marco Pena that scored Daniel-Stuppi and Erian Perez, giving the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead.
Nogales tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth before breaking it open in the fifth with an eight-run rally, taking a 10-2 lead. Nogales sent 12 batters to the plate in the inning and scored eight runs off seven hits and four walks.
Douglas added a run in the top of the sixth but then surrendered a run to the Apaches in the bottom half of the inning.
Rodriguez started the game on the mound for Douglas and went four innings, giving up three runs and five hits while striking out five and walking one. Damian Robles and Gaston Gonzalez each threw a third of an inning before giving way to Aaron Torres, who closed out the game.
Douglas had five hits. Pena was 3-for-3 with two RBIs. Perez and Torres each had one hit.
“That was an important loss that taught us a lot, we saw what our strengths are and what we have to work on,” Douglas interim coach Fabian Ochoa said. “We were up 2-1 starting in the fifth to the No. 6 (ranked) team in the state. We have what it takes to succeed this year, all we have to do is put it together. For 95% of these guys this was the second game they’ve played since the COVID Lockdown happened. Our strengths for the game were Rodriguez pitching, Pena at the plate and Ochoa defensively. We will take this as a learning experience and focus on the next week. All we have to do is knock that rust off.”
The Bulldogs, 2-1, were scheduled to host Safford Wednesday at Copper King Stadium. That game was rained out. On Friday Douglas heads to Tucson for a road game at Sunnyside.
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