Coming into Friday’s Eastern League showdown against Clairemont, Buccaneers baseball was playing some of their best ball of the season. Riding the high of a three-game winning streak, that included a two-game sweep against Mira Mesa, and a victory in game one of the series vs. Clairemont; the Bucs looked to make it four in a row and a second consecutive sweep. 

Yet, in an extra innings pitchers’ duel, Mission Bay’s win streak would end as they fell to Clairemont 1-0. 

Even with the loss, Mission Bay sits in a good spot. At 15-10 and 3-5 in the Eastern League, they are in strong contention, if not a near lock, for the CIF Div. III playoffs. Mission Bay will return for their final series against Coronado with games on May 8 and May 10.

“We came into this one feeling good,” said Mission Bay head coach Kenny Hood. “We haven’t changed too much about what our goals were. We’ve continued to stay aggressive and put the pressure on. And I was proud of how they played today, even in a loss.”

In the loss, Mission Bay’s pitching staff did its part to keep the Bucs alive. Getting the start, and setting the tone early would be senior Harold Gildehaus. 

The former 2022 City League Pitcher of the year, who owns a 1.07 ERA, Gildehaus would work 4 2/3 innings, allowing zero runs on four hits. Gildehaus was extremely efficient in his outing, as it took him just 32 pitches to work nearly five complete innings. 

With good command, Gildehaus pitched to contact and let his defense work behind him. 

“It’s what he has done since he was a freshman,” said Hood, “He has, I believe, 21 wins, in our high school program. He can throw multiple pitches for strikes whenever he wants to, and it keeps hitters off balance.”

In relief was junior Kaden Jones, who possesses a bit more velocity and increased RPMs on his slider. Jones would go 2 2/3 innings, allowing one unearned run on one hit and one walk, while striking out four. “Kaden plays nicely off Harold because of his spin rate,” noted Hood, “He has a deceptively smooth delivery, and that ball rides above some bats. He was excellent.” 

While both Gildehaus and Jones cruised on the bump, the Mission Bay offense had little luck figuring out opposing Clairemont starter Christian Garcia. Mission Bay would tally just three hits and three walks while striking out 12 times against the big right-hander. 

Henry Hampton and Ruben Gallego would record two of the hits, both singles. Meanwhile, Mason Gallego would crack a lead-off double in the 4th. But would not be brought around to score. 

Mission Bay had several opportunities to bring runs in but could not find the clutch hit needed to bring in a run. 

“We wanted our guys to be confident. These guys are good hitters with one strike and two strikes,” Hood said. “We weren’t able to execute a few times today, and that’s going happen; probably some of that velocity contributed to it. And he pitched a heck of a ball game.”

The scoring stalemate finally reached its conclusion in the bottom of the 8th with runners on first and second for Clairemont and two outs when a rocket hit to third baseman Nolan Hood caused an error. 

Hood did an excellent job of bodying up the hot shot, keeping it in front of him. But his throw to second was wide and went into right field, allowing the game-winning run to score. 

“We’re going to continue to stick to our strengths, and we’ll prepare a bit differently knowing we’ll see some big arms,” said Hood,

“I think so much of it is mental. Knowing that a team that we faced last week, and beat them (Coronado) twice, picked up games from should give us confidence. This league is going be a dog fight all the way around and it’s proven no different.”