Gators, Skyhawks prevail

Spencer Patterson

Wednesday, Aug. 4, 1999 | 9:44 a.m.

It will be deja vu all over again when the four remaining teams in this year's American Legion Baseball State Tournament lock up tonight at UNLV's Wilson Stadium.

For the second straight night, Bishop Gorman will take on Green Valley at 5 p.m. and Silverado will play Basic at 8 p.m. -- a by-product of lost opportunities by the Gaels and Wolves on Tuesday.

In Game 1, Bishop Gorman gave up five eighth-inning runs to Green Valley in a 9-8 loss, preventing the Gaels from eliminating the Gators and moving directly into Thursday's championship tilt.

And in the nightcap, top-seeded Silverado put an emphatic end to Basic's unbeaten tournament run, pounding out a 17-3 victory to keep the Wolves from claiming an automatic spot in the title game.

So tonight, those four clubs will do it all over again -- this time with the losers exiting the week-long event and the victors advancing to meet one another in Thursday night's 7 p.m. finale.

* GREEN VALLEY 9, BISHOP GORMAN 8: Trailing 7-4, the Gators turned a potentially disastrous situation in the eighth inning into the game's rallying point.

With one out and Ben Scheinbaum on second base, Green Valley's Bronson Duck lined a single to left -- seemingly enough to score his teammate and cut the lead to two runs.

But the umpires ruled that Scheinbaum missed home plate, dealing the Gators a severe blow and bringing Gorman within four outs of a win.

Rather than hang their heads, however, the Gators (31-12) went right back to work, getting some surprising production from the bottom of the batting order to come from behind.

After a Gorman error put runners on first and second, No. 8 hitter John Grose beat out an infield single to load the bases. That set the table for No. 9 hitter Ryan Myers, who rapped a double into the left-field corner to score a pair of runs.

Then, with the score tied at seven, leadoff hitter Mark Merrifield lined a clutch single -- his first hit of the tournament -- into right field to bring home Grose and Myers.

"They showed some heart tonight," Green Valley coach Kurt Gehlken said. "We had a controversial call at the dish, and we lost a run there and that got them fired up. That was the most emotion I've seen out of these kids this summer."

Gorman (41-14) nearly put together a rally of its own in the bottom of the ninth, but managed just one run. With two Gaels on base, Gator reliever Brice Sells got Brandon Boesch and Ben Fox to ground out to end the game and pick up the save.

Scheinbaum improved to 6-3 this summer with a yeoman's effort, tossing more than 160 pitches in 8 1/3 innings. He also had a pair of doubles and knocked in a run.

* SILVERADO 17, BASIC 3: The Skyhawks (48-7) left nothing to chance, racking up 16 hits in six innings, including six for extra bases.

"They've hit the ball well all tournament, even in the first game that we lost," said Silverado coach Art Besser, whose club has scored 55 runs in its four tournament games.

Cleanup hitter Jeremy West led the hit parade for the victors, going 4-for-4 with a double, a triple, four RBIs and a walk. Leadoff hitter Vincent Valiente also made life generally miserable for the Wolves (33-17), finishing 4-for-4 with three runs scored, a double, a triple and an RBI.

"Our first six guys, pretty much our whole batting order, can hit," Besser said. "It's that mental discipline that we talk to them about all the time."

The Skyhawks also got a solid pitching performance from right-hander Ken Clayton (11-1), who limited the red-hot Basic bats to nine hits in seven innings of work.

"Whenever our pitchers throw strikes like that, it makes the innings short and then we can go out and do our thing (at the plate)" West said. "We just want to get up there and hit."

Silverado was also aided by five Basic errors, which helped the Skyhawks scored six unearned runs en route to invoking the 10-run rule.