Surging Cimarron tops Bonanza

Spencer Patterson

Friday, March 31, 2000 | 10:28 a.m.

On the eve of its league opener, the Cimarron-Memorial baseball team finished sending a strong message to its primary competition in the Sunset Region.

Fresh off wins over Durango and Bishop Gorman, the No. 6 Spartans completed a sweep of the three best teams in the Southwest Division with a 6-3 victory at No. 8 Bonanza.

Still, as his team prepares for its Northwest Division opener against Cheyenne today, Cimarron coach Calvin Valvo believes his 9-1 club is still being overlooked. And that's just fine with him.

"I hope they keep thinking the same way they've been thinking -- that we're not real good," said Valvo, whose team's only loss came to Oregon's North Salem High.

Cimarron took control of the game from the start, thanks to the strong pitching of senior left-hander Jino Gonzalez.

Gonzalez, who signed with the Community College of Southern Nevada earlier in the day, dominated his five innings of work, striking out 10 batters -- two in every inning -- and allowing just two hits.

"I'm excited about the future but I've got take care of business now," Gonzalez (1-1) said.

After missing 10 days due to a blister on his finger, Gonzalez had a variety of pitches working for him, including a sharp curveball that combined with windy conditions to consistently fool Bonanza's hitters.

"After losing to North Salem and missing 10 days with the blister, his confidence was probably shaken, so it was nice to see him come and pitch the way we thought he could," Valvo said.

The Spartans played the game without several key starters, including shortstop Jeremy Reese (eye) and outfielder David Seccombe (flu), but still managed to put six runs on the board against Bengals' junior right-hander Chris Huseman.

"I told our kids we did a pretty good job with a makeshift lineup," Valvo said.

Cimarron got its first two runs in the top of the second on what should have been the inning's second out.

With Jake Vose at the plate, Bonanza catcher Greg Garrison couldn't handle the third strike from Huseman and his ensuing throw sailed past first base and down the right-field line, plating Brad Thompson from second base and Vito Casolari all the way from first.

Vose ended up at third and scored moments later on a single by Brian Ashton to stake the Spartans to a 3-0 lead.

The visitors added another run in the fourth on an RBI double by Jason Ruiz and two more in the top of the sixth on a two-run double by Ashton. With Gonzalez cruising on the mound, a Cimarron victory looked like a foregone conclusion.

But after striking out Bonanza cleanup hitter Justin Clift -- the area's leading batter coming into Thursday's action -- to end the fifth, Gonzales was lifted for reliever Willie Reibel.

"(Jino) hasn't thrown since last Monday so I didn't want to have him throwing 100 pitches in a non-conference game," Valvo said. "So we stopped him at 80."

With Gonzalez in the dugout, the Bengals (10-3) finally got going offensively, scoring three runs in the sixth.

But with the tying run at the plate in the final inning, the Spartans called on Brad Thompson to put out the fire. The hard-throwing right-hander responded, retiring Kyle Tabeek and Toney Carey, ending the game with two Bonanza runners on base.