Durango faces tough road to World Series

Spencer Patterson

Thursday, Aug. 16, 2001 | 10:48 a.m.

Western Regional Tournament

At Franklin Covey Field, Salt Lake City

Today's games

Boulder (Colo.) (43-14) vs. Glendale (Ariz.) (22-7), 9 a.m.

Danville (Calif.) (43-13) vs. Kailua (Hawaii) (16-9), noon

West Jordan (Utah) (30-11) vs. Durango (52-30), 4 p.m.

Albuquerque (N.M.) (30-11) vs. Murray (Utah) (32-20), 7 p.m.

After coming up just short in 1996 and '99, the Durango Trailblazers will try again for that elusive berth in the American Legion World Series.

To get there, however, the Blazers will need to emerge from a tough bracket at this week's Western Regional Tournament in Salt Lake City -- one that includes defending World Series champion Danville (Calif.).

"We're on a high coming out of the state tournament. We played good baseball and we hope that carries over into this coming week," Durango coach Tom Appleyard said. "But it's going to be a tough region, and only one of eight teams will go to the Series.

"We've heard West Jordan (Utah) and Danville (Calif.) are loaded with good pitchers and the Hawaiian teams are always very competitive, so our bracket is exceptionally tough."

The Trailblazers (52-30) will open the tournament today at Franklin Covey Field at 4 p.m. against Utah state champion West Jordan (30-11). Danville (43-13) and Hawaii's Kailua (16-9) will square off in the bracket's other contest.

Arizona's Glendale (22-7), Colorado's Boulder (43-14), New Mexico's Albuquerque (23-10) and Utah host team Murray (32-20) will play in the tournament's other bracket.

Pool play will conclude Saturday, with the top two finishers from each side advancing to Sunday's semifinal round. The champion will be determined Monday at 6 p.m., with the winner moving on to the eight-team World Series Aug. 24-28 in Yakima, Wash. Bishop Gorman last represented Nevada in the 1998 Series.

"To me, with the competition this good, it's going to come down to who gets hot at the right time and who gets the breaks," Appleyard said. "There were a lot of people in 1996 who thought our team was as good as any in the country, and we didn't get out of regionals."

The Blazers represented Nevada in 1996 and '99, the first time as state champions and the second time as the state's second entry when Las Vegas played host to the regional.

Durango will be without the services of pitcher Robbie Martinez, the school's starting quarterback, and starting catcher Jake Stretz, who will be on a family vacation.

"That's one less arm, so that definitely is going to hurt us, and Jake is one of our leaders, so we'll be missing those kids," Appleyard said. "But we expect to have kids step up and take their spots."

Pitcher Frank Damewood will likely start game one for the Blazers, followed by Paul Kelser and Mathew Davis.