Basic making a name for itself in tournament

Spencer Patterson

Monday, Aug. 2, 1999 | 9:49 a.m.

Throughout the 1990s, the Henderson area has been home to some of the best high school baseball in Nevada, with Green Valley a six-time state champion and Silverado a perennial playoff contender.

These days, however, the team making the most noise from the southeast part of the valley is Henderson's oldest but least storied baseball program -- the Basic Wolves.

Last spring, under first-year head coach Mike Kazek, the school put together a solid season, finishing second in the Sunrise Division and earning its second straight playoff appearance.

And on Sunday night, the Wolves took another major step forward, posting a 17-7 win over Western at UNLV's Wilson Stadium to become one of two area squads left in the winner's bracket of this week's 1999 Nevada American Legion State Baseball Tournament.

"It's nice when you're playing in these types of games at the end of the year instead of going home," Kazek said. "We keep progressing."

After defeating Reno, 14-13 in a wild 10-inning affair in Saturday's opening round, Basic left nothing to chance on Sunday, invoking the 10-rule in the eighth inning.

The Wolves did most of their damage in the fifth and sixth innings, scoring nine runs in that span to put the game out of reach. Mike Rose's three-run homer was the big blow in the fifth, while a bases-loaded triple by younger brother Mark Rose brought home a trio of runs in the sixth.

The Wolves also got a complete-game victory from Jared Prisbrey, who limited the Warriors to eight hits in his eight innings of work.

Basic will face the winner of tonight's Silverado-Western game Tuesday at 8 p.m.. A win would put the Wolves one victory away from a first-ever berth in this year's Region 8 Tournament, which begins Aug. 12 at Wilson Stadium.

* BISHOP GORMAN 10, DURANGO 6: The defending champion Gaels remained in the winner's bracket, scoring eight unearned runs to hand the 1999 high school state champs their first loss of the tournament.

Brandon Boesch worked 7 1/3 innings for the victory and also helped himself out at the plate, going 3-4 with four RBIs. Ben Fox and Ben Quinto each had three hits for the victors, who advance to play the winner of tonight's Durango-Green Valley winner on Wednesday night at 5 p.m.

Frank Spenia went 2-4 with a pair of RBIs for the Trailblazers, while teammate John DiBetta was 3-4 with two doubles.

* SILVERADO 15, RENO 14: The Skyhawks scored three times in the bottom of the ninth to avoid elimination and send Northern Nevada's lone representatives packing.

"We told them today, 'We don't want to go home, so let's send them back to Reno,' " said Silverado coach Art Besser, whose club is guaranteed a berth in next week's Region 8 Tournament by virtue of its regular season title. "If we'd have lost these two, who knows what would have happened next week."

Trailing 14-12, the Skyhawks got clutch hits from Mike Eshragh and Ryan Ruiz, setting up a two-RBI single from Jeremy West and Tommy Rojas' game-winning RBI double, which bounced over the right-field wall to plate Ruiz.

Eshragh, Ruiz, West and Rojas had four hits apiece for Silverado, which pounded out a total of 24 hits. Eric Nielsen hit a home run for the victors, who advance to play Western tonight at 8 p.m.

* GREEN VALLEY 11, CIMARRON-MEMORIAL 9: The Gators kept their title hops alive with three runs in the seventh inning, sending the Spartans home with two losses.