Columnist Spencer Patterson: Expanded format may benefit baseball teams

Spencer Patterson

Thursday, April 26, 2001 | 10:15 a.m.

Spencer Patterson covers high school sports for the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at 259-4085 or at spencer@lasvegassun.com.

When Nevada unveiled its new 4A state baseball tournament format last year, the plan was met with its share of criticism.

Some questioned whether packing 15 games into three days was a fair price to pay for upping the event from four to eight teams, while others wondered if doubling the field would water down the quality of play in a tournament intended to showcase the season's elite squads.

With the playoffs fast approaching (Sunset and Sunrise regionals begin May 9), the jury is still out. But it's also becoming apparent that there may never have been a better year to give the new format a trial run than 2001.

Never has parity been so rampant, not only in traditionally baseball-rich Southern Nevada but also in the state's northern half, which has rarely seen such fierce competition between its top six or seven clubs.

No team here in Las Vegas has even made its case as the best in its own region. Far from it. Basic, Green Valley, Silverado, Durango and Bishop Gorman have all shown flashes of brilliance, but none has maintained the type of momentum typical of recent state champs (Green Valley '93-98, Durango '99, Silverado '00).

Given these conditions, expanding the field from four to eight teams seems to make perfect sense, with all eight clubs likely to come in with realistic title hopes.

As for whether the new setup will affect the quality of baseball, it stands to reason that pitching will be stretched to the limit, particularly for the two clubs who win four games in three days to reach the finale. That could lead to an ugly title tilt hardly fitting of one of the nation's top high school baseball towns.

Then again, considering Nevada's state championship was decided by a double-forfeit a season ago, most in the prep baseball world will be satisfied simply watching a title game they sorely missed in 2000.

Nick Aiello, a left-hander for Oklahoma Christian University and a 1997 Durango graduate, was selected Sooner Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week after going 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA and 14 strikeouts last week...

Defending 4A state softball champion Wooster is ranked No. 19 in the nation in USA Today's latest poll. No Nevada baseball teams are currently among the publication's national or regional rankings.