PD Baseball Wins Wild Playoff Opener

Jacob Clark and Brooks Kriske each hit two run homers as Palm Desert posted seven runs over the first two innings Thursday night against visiting Chaffey High.     

Normally for the Aztecs, that would be more than enough; but in the CIF playoffs, no lead is safe.  In a game with scoring by the bundle, the Aztecs simply outscored Chaffey 12-7 to win their CIF playoff opener.  

Palm Desert was not kind to Chaffey pitching, chasing starter Thomas Dunnagan after two innings, and roughing up sophomore David Castaneda for five more runs in his nearly three innings of work.  

Castaneda was his own worst enemy, giving up the five runs without a Palm Desert hit.   The right hander gave up seven walks, two wild pitches, an error and a run scoring balk in the process. 

Trailing 9-3 heading into the fifth inning, Chaffey greeted Aztec reliever Brian Serven with four of the first five batters reaching base, keyed by Isaac Cisneros two run double to make the score 9-6.  

Palm Desert would then put the game away with the final three runs off Castaneda in the bottom of the fifth to open the 12-7 lead.  

Senior John Schuknecht pitched the final inning for Palm Desert, giving up a leadoff walk followed by a long double, but then retired the next three batters to end the game. 

Every Palm Desert starter, with the exception of DH Kelly Arcand, either got a hit or scored in the win.

Palm Desert advances to the second round of the Division 4 playoffs, hosting El Segundo on Tuesday.