What do the Padres and the Mesa Baseball team have in common? Their Bullpens. What’s the difference? Mesa has an offense to go with it. With only two losses in conference this season, their bullpen is leading the way. On Tuesday March 15, Mesa faced rival Southwestern College here at Mesa. Freshman Efren Olivas took to the mound and settle in quickly. “I try to keep the offense off balance.” And that he did. Olivas held the Jaguars scoreless through six innings as a combined effort from their bullpen and batting core, shut out Southwestern 5-0.
“I felt really strong. I threw a lot of strikes,” said Efren, who was relieved in the seventh inning. “Best bullpen in the conference,” teammate Joe Rosan exclaimed. Head Coach Kevin Hazlett, who started coaching here in 1991, was impressed by his pitcher’s performance. “I thought he threw the ball well, six shutout innings was nice to see.” John Kennedy was sent in in the top of the ninth to close out the victory.
Not to be out done, Sophomore Dillon Haupt led the offense on its way as he went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Haupt, who, only fitting, was the one catching for the star pitcher. Darrell Erese also added his own addition with a fifth inning homerun to put the Olympians up 3-0.
Olympians Baseball (10-8, 6-2) have not won a Conference Championship since 2007. With the halfway mark of the season upon us it’s clearly not out of reach. A stellar bullpen is key to make a run in the playoffs, and an always producing offense will help along the way in close games.
Mesa resumes their season on March 22 against rival San Diego City College at Morley field, and then here at Mesa two days later.