Monday, August 01, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Reno breaks tie in eighth inning, wins, 4-2

By DAMON SEITERS
REVIEW-JOURNAL

There’s a reason Davis Banks hits cleanup for Reno’s American Legion baseball team.

Banks delivered two key extra-base hits Sunday to help the Knights to a 4-2 victory over Palo Verde in the state tournament at UNLV’s Wilson Stadium.

With the score tied at two in the top of the eighth inning, Banks tripled off the left-field fence and scored on a double by John Rice to put Reno (39-21) ahead for good.

Banks had driven in Reno’s first two runs with a first-inning double.

“He had a real good ballgame, Davis Banks,” Reno coach Pete Savage said. “He was a huge part of our offense.”

The Knights had five hits in the first two innings. But Reno managed just two hits in the next five innings before Banks led off the eighth with the triple.

“Their pitcher did a great job making adjustments in the middle innings and late innings,” Savage said of Palo Verde’s Jerry Gamez.

While Banks was leading Reno’s offense, pitcher Garrett Luippold was doing his job. He allowed one earned run and struck out seven in eight innings to improve to 11-1.

“Garrett Luippold, he’s the ace of our staff,” Savage said. “He’s a real competitive kid. He’s pitched well for us all year, and he did it again today.”

Bryan Hill was 3-for-4 and Tyler Heil and Banks each had two hits for the Knights, who will play Durango at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Jon Evans was 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs for Palo Verde (27-12), which will play Bonanza at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

• Durango 7, Bonanza 6 — Dustin Romero scored on an error with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to spark the Trailblazers past the Bengals.

Romero and Niko Vasquez led off the inning with back-to-back walks, and Anthony Iaconianni reached on a bunt single to load the bases for cleanup hitter Kris Cichoski.

But Reid Benincasa struck out Cichoski and got Tommy Pham to pop out to first. Brandon Graff then hit a grounder to shortstop that was bobbled by Steven Francom to allow the winning run to score.

Durango coach Tom Appleyard said he was surprised it took an error in the ninth-inning situation.

“We’ve executed in that situation all year,” Appleyard said. “We didn’t execute a lot tonight. That’s compliments to Bonanza. They created a lot of that.”

The Bengals rallied to tie the game twice in the late innings. Durango led 5-3 entering the sixth, but Bonanza got RBI singles from Ben Haberkorn and Ryan Pineda to knot the game at five.

Durango took a 6-5 lead in the seventh when Pham singled up the middle to score Vasquez.

Pineda’s two-out single in the eighth scored Haberkorn to make the score 6-6.

“Any team in this thing can beat you,” Appleyard said. “This is the most evenly matched tournament I’ve seen in 26 years.”

Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Kirby hurls five-hitter in state Legion game

By DAMON SEITERS
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Lane Kirby threw a five-hitter to help Palo Verde avoid elimination in the American Legion state baseball tournament with an 8-1 victory over Bonanza at UNLV’s Wilson Stadium on Tuesday.

Kirby struck out nine and walked one.

“It all started with pitching and defense,” Palo Verde coach Artie Besser said. “No errors, five hits — that’s where it started right there. We didn’t give them any extra at-bats. If you pitch and play defense, you’ll be successful.”

The Panthers (28-12) also got more production from the middle of their order. Their 3-4-5 hitters went 1-for-12 in their tournament opener, a 4-2 loss to Reno on Sunday.

On Tuesday, they were 7-for-13.

“We had some timely hitting,” Besser said. “That’s what we were lacking the other day.”

No. 3 hitter Joe Intiso, 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in the opener, went 3-for-5 with a two-run homer. No. 5 hitter Chris Cassell, a freshman at Feather River College in the spring, went 3-for-3 with two doubles, a triple, three runs and one RBI.

“It was nice to have him in there to provide some added punch,” Besser said. “Just to get some added pop in the lineup is nice.”

Kirby gave the Panthers their second consecutive complete game. Jerry Gamez pitched a complete game in the opener.

“If you’re in the losers’ bracket, you’ve got to have some arms,” Besser said. “And our starters have done a heck of a job getting through nine innings.”

Jake Danneffel had an RBI groundout in the fifth for Bonanza, which finished 24-16.

• Reno 4, Durango 2 — The Knights scored four runs in the first three innings, then held off Durango to move to 2-0 in the tournament.

Starting pitcher John Rice went 7 1/3 innings, allowing one earned run on nine hits, to get the victory.

Reno took advantage of two Durango errors to score an unearned run in the top of the first, then scored two in the second on Alex Gardner’s squeeze bunt and Bryan Hill’s RBI groundout. Michael Brown had an RBI single in the third.

Durango (64-19) will play Palo Verde in an elimination game at 8 p.m. today. Reno will play the winner of that game at 5 p.m. Thursday.

Sunday, August 07, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Skyhawks top Reno, advance to region tournament

By DAMON SEITERS
REVIEW-JOURNAL

With the state tournament on the line Saturday night, the top of Silverado’s order came through.

Jordan Keegan led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a double, and Kyle Bostick singled him home to break a 5-5 tie and lead the Skyhawks to a 6-5 win over Reno in the championship game of the American Legion state tournament at UNLV’s Wilson Stadium.

Keegan doubled inside the first-base bag off Reno ace Garrett Luippold, who had come on in relief in the fourth inning. It was Keegan’s third hit of the game.

“That leadoff double there, that was clutch,” Silverado coach Brian Whitaker said. “Because then you’re in a situation where you can maybe even manufacture something.”

Bostick then lined a single to right field for the game winner. It is the first state championship for Silverado since 1999.

The Skyhawks (24-14) advance to the American Legion Western Regional, Aug. 11 to 15 at Community College of Southern Nevada. Sierra Vista, which won the regular-season league championship, also advances to the regional as a host team.

Reliever Kevin Chapman pitched three scoreless innings of relief to earn his second tournament victory.

“He threw nice tonight,” Whitaker said. “He came in in a tie-ballgame situation and gave us three good innings.”

The Skyhawks entered the tournament as the No. 5 seed and won despite an extremely young roster that featured just one graduated senior.

“We used 12 or 13 pitchers this summer and spread around the at-bats,” Whitaker said. “The whole thing is to try to develop these kids. I believe that you can develop and win. That’s kind of our mind-set and it worked out this year. It was a nice win for us tonight.”

Silverado led 5-3 entering the sixth, but the Knights scored twice to tie the game. Michael Brown walked to lead off the inning.

Two outs later, Adam Shochat singled to put runners on the corners. John Wallace and Bryan Hill each delivered RBI singles to make it 5-5.

Silverado wasted little time against Reno starter John Rice. Keegan led off the bottom of the first with a bloop single to left. After Bostick walked, Rance Roundy singled up the middle to bring home Keegan with the game’s first run.

After Reno tied the game, Silverado retook the lead in the third. Bostick led off with a single, and Roundy was hit by a pitch.

After a passed ball moved the runners to second and third, Kevin Rath singled up the middle to score two and make it 5-3.

Friday, August 05, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

By DAMON SEITERS
REVIEW-JOURNAL

With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday, Durango coach Tom Appleyard rolled the dice with his team’s season.

Appleyard called for a squeeze bunt with a 2-2 count, and J.P. Daluz delivered, bringing home the go-ahead run. The Trailblazers went on to defeat Reno 5-3 to stay alive in the American Legion state tournament at UNLV’s Wilson Stadium.

“We hadn’t been hitting the ball,” Appleyard said. “I think we had three hits at that point. We talked a little bit in the dugout, and it was like, `Well, let’s take a chance and see what happens.’ ”

Durango (66-19) and Reno (40-22) will meet again at 8 tonight, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s state championship game against Silverado.

With the game tied 3-3, Kris Cichoski was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the seventh. After a strikeout, Dustin Romero singled and Mike Hammonds was walked intentionally to load the bases.

Daluz came on as a pinch hitter and bunted the 2-2 pitch back to the mound to score the go-ahead run.

“He kind of did a double-take on the sign, but he executed and that was huge,” Appleyard said.

Durango scored twice in the second on an error and an RBI double by Hammonds to take a 2-0 lead. The Trailblazers scored a run in the third on a Niko Vasquez sacrifice fly to make the score 3-0.

Reno tied the game in the sixth when John Rice blasted a three-run homer over the left-field fence.

Four Durango pitchers combined on a seven-hitter, with reliever Jayson McClaren throwing 1 2/3 scoreless innings to get the win. Appleyard said he can only hope to get a similar performance from his pitchers tonight.

“When you get this deep in this thing, you put an arm out there and hope they can do the job,” he said.

• Silverado 14, Bishop Gorman 1 — Kevin Rath was 3-for-4 with two doubles, a triple and two RBIs to help the Skyhawks (23-14) move to 3-0 in the tournament and gain a berth in the championship game.

“We couldn’t have drawn it up any better than that,” Silverado coach Brian Whitaker said. “It’s nice to know that we’re in the title game and we’re excited about that. That’s a great opportunity for our ballclub.”

Kolton Villa was 2-for-4 with a double and a home run, and Kyle Bostick drove in four runs for Silverado.

The Skyhawks’ Chase Bradford pitched the distance, allowing six hits and striking out six in a game shortened to seven innings because of the 10-run rule.

Gorman finished 35-23.