Spartans: World Series has nice ring to it

Spencer Patterson

Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2000 | 10:15 a.m.

Earlier this week, as he was preparing to order his squad's American Legion State Championship rings, Cimarron-Memorial baseball coach Bill Rodriguez was stopped by several of his players.

"They said before you order the rings, you'd better hold up because they won't just say state champions on them," Rodriguez said.

His players were referring to the remainder of the Legion postseason, which continues Thursday with the Western Regional Tournament in Ogden, Utah. The Spartans will battle six other state champions and a host team for the right to represent the Southwest in this year's American Legion World Series.

"They're hungry, and they just want to eat more," Rodriguez said. "I've been here at school this week, and they've been coming in left and right to ask for the keys so they could hit on their own."

Cimarron (40-8), which captured last week's Legion state title with a perfect 4-0 sweep that included victories over Silverado, Palo Verde, Cheyenne and Durango, will open regional play Thursday at 1 p.m. against Hawaiian champion West Oahu (15-8).

The Spartans will likely turn to left-hander Jake Vose for their starting pitching duties in Game 1. Vose won Cimarron's opening state tournament contest against the Skyhawks and was ready for relief duty in the title game against the Trailblazers, but remained in the dugout while Brad Thompson worked a nine-inning complete game.

Thompson, a right-hander, is expected to start Friday against Tucson, Ariz. (45-7), with southpaw Willie Reibel a possibility for Cimarron's final pool contest against Utah champ Taylorsville (33-3).

"All the teams there are probably pretty equal, so we need to stay focused," Rodriguez said. "The thing about pool play is you don't have to win that third game if you can win the first two. So we told them they have to knock off those first two teams to not worry about that third one."

Several Spartans come into regionals swinging extremely hot bats, most notably cleanup hitter Mike Luczynski, who went 11-for-20 with three homers and 15 RBIs in the state tournament. Jeremy Reese (8-for-16, 6 RBIs), Brian Ashton (10-for-17, seven RBIs, 10 extra-base hits) and Jason Ruiz (9-for-17, 11 RBIs) have also been virtually unstoppable at the top of the Cimarron order.

"I know we can hit, so it will probably come down to how good our pitching can be," Rodriguez said.

The tournament's other pool features Southern California's Chino (32-2), New Mexico champion Albuquerque (28-3), Colorado champ Pueblo (36-15) and Utah host squad Copper Hills (19-10).