Durango squeaks past C-M

Spencer Patterson

Thursday, May 10, 2001 | 11:05 a.m.

Down to its final strike and facing a six-run deficit, Cimarron-Memorial nearly did the unthinkable in round one of the 4A Sunset Region Baseball Tournament Wednesday.

Trailing host Durango 6-0 with two outs and a two-strike count on Jason Ruiz, the Spartans suddenly erupted for five runs and moved the potential tying and winning runs to second and third base.

But just when it looked like Cimarron might pull off the miracle finish, the Blazers righted their ship, hanging on for a 6-5 win to remain in the winner's bracket.

"You've got to give Cimarron credit," Durango coach Mike Gomez said. "They kept fighting and fighting. We were fortunate to get out of that."

Through six innings, Trailblazers starter Frank Damewood kept the Spartans at bay. After centerfielder Steven Cope's bullet throw to the plate helped Damewood escape a jam in the first, the right-hander cruised through his next five innings, taking a five-hit shutout into the seventh.

And then the wheels nearly came off for Durango.

An error by third baseman Jake Stretz allowed Matt Wagner to reach first to lead off the seventh. Damewood recovered, striking out the next two batters to move within an out of the complete-game win, but was unable to secure the game's final out.

Chris Davila singled, putting runners at the corners. Then, after fouling off three two-strike pitches, Ruiz punched a hit up the middle, scoring Wagner with the Spartans' first run.

Robert Grana and Danny Esquivil followed with back-to-back RBI singles -- the latter off reliever Don Sutton -- to make it 6-3, and after Jared Johnson walked, Steve Russell slapped a high-chopper up the middle, scoring two more to cut the deficit to one.

But Wagner, the 10th player to bat in the inning, could not produce the equalizer, grounding out to shortstop Danny Kelly to end the wild affair.

Durango (22-9) did most of its scoring in the first inning, producing four runs on five consecutive singles. The Blazers added another in the second on Sutton's RBI double and tacked on an insurance run -- the game's ultimate difference -- on a sixth-inning RBI double by Paul Kelser.

"I always tell them you can never have enough (runs), and tonight re-establishes that fact," Gomez said.

"You never know when a one-run rally can turn into two or three."

The Blazers advance to take on Palo Verde (20-9) in round two today at Basic at 6 p.m. The Panthers moved on with an easy 14-1 win over Clark, pounding out nine extra-base hits.

The Spartans (16-11) will face the Chargers (10-22) today at 3 p.m. at Basic in a loser's out contest.

In other Sunset action Wednesday, Cooper Fouts went 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles to help Bishop Gorman get past Cheyenne 11-2.

The Gaels will next face Bonanza, which got four hits from Austin Hales in a 14-9 win over Centennial.

In the Sunrise tournament, Eric Durante and Chris McGovern teamed up to lead Green Valley over Rancho 18-3. The Gators will square off against rival Silverado, an easy 15-0 winner over Valley.

In the other half of the Sunrise bracket, Foothill came alive to record an 8-3 victory over Las Vegas, while Nate Goodman knocked in four runs to lift Basic to a 12-2 triumph against Eldorado.