Basic keeps its cool in victory over GV; Cheyenne advances

Spencer Patterson

Thursday, Aug. 3, 2000 | 9:34 a.m.

Snow-cone catches have long been a part of baseball's vernacular, but on Wednesday the Basic Wolves got a taste of the real thing.

Trailing Henderson rival Green Valley by a run in an American Legion State Tournament elimination game, the Wolves found themselves waiting through a 44-minute lightning delay in the middle of the eighth inning.

So Basic coach Mike Kazek came up with an interesting way to keep his players loose during the break. He headed up to the concession stand and returned with a box of snow cones, which the Wolves devoured in their dugout.

When the delay finally ended, Basic wasted no time reclaiming the lead, scoring four eighth-inning runs -- two on a Leland Montoya homer -- to post an 11-9 victory at UNLV's Wilson Stadium.

"I brought the snow cones down to keep it loose in the dugout and wait for (the lightning) to pass," Kazek said. "There was no reason to stress out, but I'm glad we played nine innings."

The Wolves (31-14) earn a rematch with No. 1 seed Durango (58-17), which beat Basic 11-5 on Tuesday. The teams will square off tonight at 8.

In today's 5 p.m. contest, No. 2 seed Cimarron-Memorial (38-8) will take on Cheyenne (29-25). The Desert Shields made the tournament's final four by downing Palo Verde 2-1 in Wednesday's early game.

Junior-to-be Ryan Prince tossed a nine-inning complete game for Cheyenne, allowing six hits and one earned run in the pitching gem of the tournament to date.

"He pitched his butt off," Cheyenne coach Dave Snyder said. "I expected seven solid innings, and he gave me nine. He's never done that. That's quite a feat."

In a state tournament filled with homers and double-digit scores, the Desert Shields and Panthers (22-14) made every pitch count in a game that didn't see a run scored until the sixth inning.

With the score 1-1, Cheyenne broke through for what would prove to be the winning run in the seventh. Derrick Browder singled and later scored on an errant throw by Palo Verde first baseman Ryan Reeves.

That was all the support Prince needed, as the 5-9, 185-pounder held the Panthers to just one hit over the final three innings. He finished the day with four strikeouts and five walks.

"I thought I'd probably go six or seven, and we had a reliever warming up, but I was throwing pretty good and it was a close game," said Prince, who threw 134 pitches.

Pitchers Eric Newman and Larry Ellenbrook combined on a seven-hitter for Palo Verde, while Browder and Robert Kovacs both finished 2-for-4 for the Shields.

In the late game, the Gators (22-13) built a 7-2 lead in the fifth inning, but were unable to slam the door. Basic responded with five runs in the bottom of the fifth off Green Valley starter Brice Sells.

The Gators went back ahead 8-7 in the eighth, when Scott Villamore's sacrifice fly scored John Grose. Then lightning filled the sky, and the teams were sent to the dugouts for the better part of an hour.

When the game resumed, Wolves No. 9 hitter Monty Coon greeted Sells with a leadoff single. Coon then scored on a Nate Goodman base hit, and Goodman came around moments later on a throwing error by Gator shortstop Zeke Parraz.

With Micah Schnurstein on third, Montoya hammered a two-run shot over the left-field wall. Basic ace Matt Elliott, who started Tuesday's loss to Durango, came on in the ninth and, despite surrendering a run, closed out the game to earn the save.

"Coach brought down those snow cones and that mellowed us out," Montoya said. "We had fun, and we just took that fun out onto the field."

archive