Baseball: Durango wins 8th straight

Spencer Patterson

Tuesday, March 24, 1998 | 8:40 a.m.

When Durango baseball coach Mike Gomez scheduled this week's games against Hawaiian school Kalani, he was hoping to provide his club with some tough competition before it opened conference play.

On Monday night, the Trailblazers got more than they bargained for, thanks to Falcons' pitcher Shane Komine.

The senior righthander used a split-fingered fastball, a deceptive changeup and a nasty curveball to keep the hosts' potent lineup off-balance all night, striking out 14 batters, including a string of five in a row.

In the end it wasn't quite enough, however, as Durango (8-1) escaped with a 4-2 victory to run its winning streak to eight games.

"That was probably the best pitcher we've seen this year, including (Green Valley ace Mike) Nannini," said Gomez, whose team's only loss came on opening day to Nannini's Gators.

Komine's fate might have been different had it not been for a series of defensive mistakes behind him.

After the Falcons took a 1-0 lead on a Komine RBI single in the top of the first, the Hawaiian squad made a pair of errors in the bottom of the inning, allowing Durango to tie the score with an unearned run.

Then, in the critical second inning, Kalani shortstop Brandon Tanaka booted one ball and second baseman Kevin Morikone couldn't come up with two others, paving the way for three more Trailblazer runs.

Durango right fielder John Dibetta's two-out double to right proved to be the frame's key hit, scoring Sean Havens from second and setting up Chris Bannister's RBI single.

Komine kept the damage to a minimum, striking out Jack Newark with Bannister on second. From there, he would allow only four baserunners, racking up 13 of the final 17 batters on strikes.

"He's probably the best pitcher in Hawaii this year," said Kalani coach Shannon Hirai, whose club played four games against local competition during its week-long spring break tour of Las Vegas.

Komine has drawn some interest from a couple of colleges, but not the type of attention a pitcher who threw in last year's Senior Little League World Series and has a 3.5 GPA and an 1,100 SAT score would normally expect.

"He's a great kid. I'm just hoping someone gives him a scholarship," Hirai said.

The Trailblazers, who have two more games before opening Sunset Division play on Thursday at Bonanza, also got an impressive performance on the mound, but from a far more unexpected source.

Durango sophomore E.J. Sparks, called up from the junior varsity squad earlier in the day, scattered four hits, struck out five and did not issue a walk in five innings of work.

* ELSEWHERE: Mike Tabeek pitched a five-hitter, leading Bonanza (4-3) to a 6-3 comeback victory over Hawaii's McKinley High School. The Bengals trailed, 3-0, before two-run singles by Chris Vohs and Dan Meissner helped the hosts to six runs in the fifth inning.