Baseball: Pacifics riding high heading to midpoint of season

Aki Buckson’s bat is adding fuel to San Rafael’s midseason surge as the Pacifics ran the win streak to eight games Friday night.

Following a three-homer night, Buckson went 3-for-6, reaching base four times and scoring three runs to help the Pacifics cruise past the visiting Sturgeon, 11-1, at Albert Park.

The San Rafael Pacifics (19-6), nearing the midway point in the regular season, have the best record in the Pecos League, and hold a 5 1/5-game lead over second-place Martinez (13-11) in the Pacific Division.

“The lineup we have hitting is good enough to win the whole thing,” said Pacifics starter Alex Valasek, who helped anchor San Rafael’s 2023 Pecos League championship team.

Valasek, the Pacific Division Pitcher of the Year the past two seasons, struck out five batters and walked three through eight innings for his third win in five games.

“I think our starters have been good, our bullpen guys have been good, we just need a little more bullpen depth,” said the former College of Marin pitching coach.

The Pacifics are getting some bullpen relief as veteran Josh Idell made his second appearance of the season Friday to close out the ninth inning. Idell, one of Valasek’s former pitchers at COM, is coming back from offseason shoulder surgery, but looked solid as he faced four batters in the ninth.

“It’s nice having at least one inning to come back after surgery,” Idell said. “It’s good for the mental aspect. But we played a great game as a team. Aki Buckson is hot right now.”

Buckson, who leads the Pacific Division with seven home runs, hit three homers in San Rafael’s 9-4 victory over last-place Monterey (4-18) on Thursday.

“It’s funny, the game before (in Wednesday’s 17-4 win over Martinez) I went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts, but everyone else was swinging the bat well,” Buckson said. “So if one or two guys have a bad day, the rest of the guys will come through. … That puts you at ease, keeps you comfortable.”

Buckson was looking for one more home run in his last at bat Friday night against Martinez as he finished just shy of hitting for the cycle. Buckson led off the game with a base hit, then hit a double to left centerfield in the second and burned up the base paths in the fifth for a triple.

On a 2-2 count in the eighth inning, Buckson connected on a grounder to short and beat out the throw to first, which was ruled an error.

“I was trying too hard there, I think,” Buckson admitted. “Oh well, next time.”

The Pacifics were still riding the momentum from Thursday’s win as they put up eight runs in the first two innings. Buckson came to the plate in the bottom of the first inning for a leadoff single. Kyle Guerra drew a walk on four straight pitches, then John Bicos struck out. But then the wheels fell off for Martinez starter Ryan Harvel, who threw two wild pitches to Chris Wright, allowing Buckson to take third and then score.

Harvel walked Wright and the next batter, Mark Hernandez, before Payton Rios hit a two-run double. Another wild pitch allowed Hernandez to score from third for a 4-0 San Rafael lead as the Pacifics went through their order.

Buckson doubled to lead off the second inning and scored on a towering double to the centerfield fence by Bicos. The Pacifics loaded the bases for Rios, who reached on a fielder’s choice that scored Bicos. Harvel went off-target again and two more wild pitches scored two more San Rafael runs for an 8-0 Pacifics lead in the second.

Harvel was charged with five wild pitches and eight walks as the Pacifics took a 9-0 lead before he left in the fourth inning.

The Pacifics rolled to an 11-run lead in the fifth inning, while the Sturgeon continued to melt down with a mix of bad pitches, injuries and ejections.

Buckson led off the fifth inning with a triple and scored on a wild pitch from Martinez reliever Caleb Natov, whose night was soon done after he drilled Telly Hill on the elbow. Martinez centerfielder Harrison Treble was injured when he hit the ground chasing down an RBI-single from Rios in the fifth and had to leave the game.

The Sturgeon broke up the shutout in the seventh inning when Kea scored from third on a wild pitch. By then, Martinez manager Matthew Repplinger had decided he’d seen enough, and got himself ejected during the seventh inning stretch. And he wasn’t the only member of the Sturgeon to hit the showers early after yelling at the umpires.

The Pacifics swept this week’s four-game home and home series with the Sturgeon in grand fashion. After a 7-6 home win Sunday, the Pacifics won back-to-back games 14-2 and 17-4 in Martinez. San Rafael is 5-1 against Martinez this season, with four more scheduled meetings.

“We’re a big momentum squad, so if go bad, we all go bad, but if we’re good, we’re all good,” Idell said. “We’re just going to figure out a way to keep on the gas the entire time and keep it good.”