Mazza tosses first complete game in Sharks' 4-1 win
Published on July 1, 2011 under Coastal Plain League (Coastal Plain)
Wilmington Sharks News Release
If Friday night's start turns out to be Chris Mazza's last with the Wilmington Sharks, the right-hander went out with a bang, throwing the first complete game of his career in the Sharks' 4-1 win over the Outer Banks Daredevils to open the second half of the 2011 CPL season.
With Minnesota Twins scouts in attendance, the 27th round draft pick struck out seven batters, including the final out of the game, while allowing only five hits.
All of the night's scoring on both sides came in the first inning, with the Daredevils' Chris Reese doubling to open the game before scoring three batters later on an RBI single.
The Sharks responded with four runs in the bottom of the first on four doubles.
But the night belonged to Mazza.
After four shaky innings that saw him pitching almost exclusively from the stretch, Mazza found his form and sat Outer Banks down 1-2-3 four innings in a row from the fifth through the eighth innings.
"My stuff didn't feel so good at the beginning of the game," Mazza said. "But I figured it out from there."
Even with the mow-down innings late in the game, Mazza needed some help from his teammates in the ninth.
A great play by center fielder Aaron Preston gunned down the first batter in the ninth after the ball was hit into the right-center field gap. Preston slid to cut the ball off before popping up and throwing a bullet to second base well in time for the out.
Mazza walked the next Daredevil before a lineout right at Preston marked out number two in the ninth. An Outer Banks single placed runners at first and second with two outs as Daredevil catcher Mike Thomas stepped in.
"The last guy, I knew I had him," Mazza said, recalling that he had struck him out on a slider earlier in the game.
Offensively, the Sharks' Justyn Carter opened the bottom of the first by reaching on a hit by pitch before scoring all the way from first on Ricardo Lizcano's RBI double that short-hopped the left field wall.
Jake Mayers followed Lizcano with a double of his own to give the Sharks runners at second and third. After two strikeouts, Emilio Pagan joined in on the double parade, with his two-RBI double plating Lizcano and Mayers.
Pagan didn't stay at second long, as Alex Freedman drilled the first pitch he saw for an RBI-double that plated Pagan.
After the first inning, the Sharks added just three more hits and four baserunners overall, but the three-run lead was more than enough for Mazza.
The Sharks take Saturday off before returning to the Shark Tank on Sunday, July 3, when they host Florence. Gates open at 6 p.m. with the first pitch set for 7:05, with postgame fireworks presented by Taco Bell following the game.
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