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Wednesday was an off-day for the Pirates team but for some Pirates players, they had the honor to participate in the Best of the West’s home run derby and All-star game at Cal Poly Pomona.
Representing the Pirates for the home run derby was infielder/outfielder Robbie Treto who leads the Sunset Baseball League with 4 homeruns.
When it was time for Treto to come up he had multiple balls crushed but they either fell a few inches below the wall or went for a foul ball. Nonetheless, Treto was still able to put one over the wall finishing him in second place for the whole event.
“I put some good swings on the ball, it just didn’t stay fair,” said Treto. “It was a lot of fun and a cool experience.”
Following the home run derby came the all-star game which was headlined by a plethora of pirates players such as catcher Andrew Buglino, shortstop Angelo Aleman, two-way pitcher Andrew Tovar, outfielders Ryan Camacho and Jovan Camacho, and pitchers Deandrey Carter, Josh Yosfan and John Paul Claire.
For the American all-stars, RHP Deandrey Carter was given the start and he did not disappoint, going 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER and 1 K. The Pirates pitchers didn’t stop with Carter as Claire and Tovar also made appearances in the later innings. Unfortunately, Claire and Tovar would both fall victim to errors but still have a strong enough outing to allow only two earned runs.
As for the hitting, virtually all the Pirates batters reached base like Aleman reaching on a walk or Tovar reaching twice on a walk and single. But we saw solid performances in particular from Jovan Camacho who went 2 for 3 with 1 walk, a stolen base and a run scored while his teammate Buglino went 2 for 4 with 1 RBI. The Pirates finished the night going a combined 5 for 8 with 1 run scored, 3 walks, 1 stolen base and 1 RBI.
“I feel like I’m seeing the ball better again,” said Buglino. “Our team is pretty close knit and it was fun representing the Pirates.”
Although the Pirates had their fun today, they are back at it for league play tomorrow against the Arroyo Seco Sentinels at Jackie Robinson Field with first pitch scheduled for 6 pm.