Silverado, Gorman to meet for title

Spencer Patterson

Thursday, Aug. 5, 1999 | 9:53 a.m.

After six days and 14 games, the American Legion State Baseball Tournament will conclude tonight with a fitting final matchup: the top seeds against the defending champs.

Regular season champion Silverado, the event's No. 1 seed, will face Bishop Gorman, two-time Nevada Legion champions, tonight at 7 p.m. at UNLV's Wilson Stadium.

"That's the way the state tournament should be," Silverado coach Art Besser said Wednesday night. "The two best teams should be there, and we're one of them and Gorman's shown they are too."

The Skyhawks (49-7) got into the finals in typical style -- blasting 15 hits in a 15-8 victory over Henderson-area rival Basic (33-18). In five tournament games, Silverado has scored a whopping 70 runs.

"They've done well coming out of the loser's bracket," said Besser, whose club has won four straight after dropping its tournament opener to eighth-seeded Western.

The Gaels (31-13), meanwhile, returned to the title game by shaking off a pesky Green Valley squad, 7-6, in 11 innings. Just one night earlier, those same Gators (31-13) defeated Gorman to force Wednesday's semifinal rematch.

"We've been here before," said Gorman coach Ken White, an assistant coach for the 1998 squad that reached the Legion World Series. "Last year with our backs against the wall, we were 5-1 and we have mainly a senior-laden team back."

Waiting in the wings with a vested interest in tonight's finale is Durango, which fell out of the tournament on Monday but still has a chance to extend its season. The Trailblazers will join Silverado in the upcoming Region 8 Tournament if the Skyhawks top Gorman.

If the Gaels win tonight, Gorman will go into regionals as the state champs, with Silverado entering the eight-team field as the "host" club.

Right-hander Brandon Boesch (8-0) is expected to take the mound for Gorman tonight, while right-hander Jason Vita (4-1) will likely make the start for the Skyhawks.

The Gaels were the only squad to hand the Silverado a conference loss in 35 games this summer.

* BISHOP GORMAN 7, GREEN VALLEY 6: The Gaels squandered a two-run lead in the seventh inning, but kept the Gators off the board in both extra innings. That set up 11th-inning heroics from Boesch, who doubled home Cooper Fouts from first base with the game-winner.

"Brandon's been swinging a hot bat all year long," White said. "He's just a great hitter."

Early on, it looked like Green Valley would down Gorman for the second straight night, as the Gators busted out of the gates with four first-inning runs off southpaw Ben Fox.

But after team leader Nick Didier made an emotional speech to his teammates in the middle of the third inning, the Gaels came right back, scoring a pair of runs in the third, three more in the fifth and another in the sixth for a 6-4 advantage.

"I just told them that I didn't want this to be my last game with these guys," said Didier, a 1999 graduate who went 5-for-6 in the game. "I told them I loved them and said if we're gonna play, let's leave it all out on the field."

According to White, that speech proved to be the contest's turning point.

"He didn't want it to be his last night, and I'm sure the other seniors felt the same way," White said.

The Gators showed they still had some emotion of their own left in the seventh, scoring twice to knot things up. Pitcher Ryan Myers connected for a solo homer off Fox, and Ben Scheinbaum drew a bases loaded walk off reliever Nate Fouts moments later to keep Green Valley's title hopes alive.

But is was not to be for the Gators, as Fouts struck out six of the final 13 batters he faced -- including two each in the 10th and 11th -- to set up Boesch's game-winning double.

"After this comeback, I think this will be a real boost, a good confidence builder," White said. "That's what we needed at this time of year -- a tough one-run game."

* SILVERADO 15, BASIC 8: For the second night in a row, the Skyhawks scored early and often, knocking the upstart Wolves from the tournament.

Even with leadoff hitter Vincent Valiente in California for an admissions test at Saddleback Junior College, Silverado's lineup was plenty potent. racking up 15 hits, including five for extra bases.

"We had a different mix in there tonight, but the guys did fine," Besser said.

Ryan Ruiz got things started in the first inning, blasting a monstrous homer -- his third of the tournament -- to straightaway center for the Skyhawks' first two runs.

By game's end, eight of Silverado's nine starters had at least one hit, with Ruiz (2-for-4, 3 RBIs, 3 runs), Jeremy West (2-for-4, 2 RBIs, 3 runs) and Tommy Rojas (2-for-4, 2 RBIs, 3 runs) leading the charge.

Skyhawks' starting Robbie Van (11-2) worked eight innings for the win, while Basic's Jesse Craig (3-6) lost for the second straight night.