Killebrew pitches Desert Oasis to baseball victory over Bonanza

Desert Oasis right-hander Zane Killebrew cruised through five innings, never throwing more than 14 pitches or facing more than five batters in an inning.

But after running into trouble in the sixth, Killebrew made the biggest pitch of the game.

The senior froze Bonanza’s Daniel Romero with a fastball on the outside corner for a strikeout to end the inning with the tying run at second, and the Diamondbacks held on for a 5-3 road win.

“He made a good pitch there,” Desert Oasis coach Mike Besser said. “We were fortunate they didn’t push any more runs across.”

Killebrew had allowed just three hits through five innings. He had thrown 54 pitches, 40 strikes, but Bonanza’s Ricky Williams reached on an infield single with one out in the sixth to start a rally.

Travis Ming and Joaquin Orozco followed with back-to-back liners to center field to load the bases.
Sean DeSoto then rolled a double over first base, scoring two to make it 5-2.

Pinch runner Braiden Gray came home on a wild pitch, and a walk put runners at first and third with one out.

Killebrew got Alec Taft to ground back to the mound. Killebrew got DeSoto into a rundown, and he was cut down for the second out, but runners moved to second and third for Romero, who struck out on a 1-2 pitch.

Killebrew then retired the side in order in the seventh to end the game.

Desert Oasis broke through with three runs in the second on a fielder’s choice, a balk and an RBI triple by Cody Schmidt.

The Diamondbacks scored two in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Schmidt and an RBI single by Dillon Krasn.

Desert Oasis moved to 4-2 in the Southwest League. The team’s two league losses came to No. 1 Sierra Vista and No. 2 Bishop Gorman.

Besser credited the team’s early schedule, during which it played 10 games in the first two weeks, with preparing Desert Oasis for league play. The Diamondbacks took some lumps during that stretch, with losses to No. 3 Rancho, No. 4 Green Valley and No. 9 Liberty.

“Dodging people and building up wins on your record isn’t going to get you any better,” Besser said. “So we played Rancho and Green Valley and Silverado and Liberty, teams that are as good as any on the east side of town. I think we benefited from it and just keep building.”