Estrada pitches Bonanza baseball to win over Centennial

The scoreboard at Bonanza incorrectly credited senior Dave Estrada with a no-hitter Thursday.

It wasn’t far off, however.

Estrada tossed a two-hit shutout, outdueling Centennial’s Will Loucks, as the host Bengals inched closer to a playoff berth with a 2-0 victory.

“I told the kids before the game if they win three in a row we’ll make the playoffs,” Bonanza coach Derek Stafford said. “But you can’t win three in a row if you don’t win the first one.”

The win moves Bonanza (14-13, 4-4 Southwest League) into a third-place tie with Desert Oasis with two league games remaining.

Centennial (12-17, 3-5) is one game back, but the Bulldogs would lose the head-to-head tiebreaker with Bonanza, making Monday’s game against Desert Oasis a must-win.

Centennial never has missed the postseason.

“We still have hope,” Loucks said. “All we can do is go out and play our best the next two games, and whatever happens, happens.”

Estrada stymied the Bulldogs’ offense, retiring the first eight batters — Brett Doyle made a diving catch in right to rob Noah Given of a hit in the second — and allowing four baserunners in all. The right-hander had two six-pitch innings and needed only 75 pitches (50 strikes) to go the distance.

Jared Drizin had both Centennial hits, an infield single in the third inning and a bunt single to open the sixth.

“I kept going at them. I’m going to challenge you till you show you can hit off me, and then I’m going to pitch around you,” Estrada said. “I trust my teammates to make the plays, and I’m going to do my part as well.”

Loucks was nearly as dazzling, giving up four hits and striking out four. But the Bengals made the most of their limited opportunities against the junior right-hander.

Travis Ming led off the second with the first of his two doubles and moved to third on a passed ball before scoring on a groundout by Doyle.

In the fifth, Doyle reached on an infield single and went to second on a groundout. Estrada followed with a line-drive single to right, and Doyle slid under Given’s tag for a 2-0 advantage.

“I knew if we got one or two runs across (Estrada) would have to make it hold up,” Stafford said. “This was the biggest game of the year. If we lost this one, we would have been in a tight spot.”