Francom dominates C-M

Spencer Patterson

Thursday, May 9, 2002 | 9:47 a.m.

The Cimarron-Memorial Spartans may have four Division I signees on their pitching staff, but on Wednesday, it was Bonanza's Kameron Francom who looked like a future college star.

The Bengals' ace struck out seven and did not yield an earned run, and his offense did the rest in a 13-3, five-inning win over the Spartans on day one of the 4A Sunset Region Tournament at Durango High School.

Francom set the tone for the contest with a 1-2-3 first inning that included a pair of strikeouts, then received a 7-0 lead after Bonanza scored four runs in the first and three more in the second.

"It's always good to go out there with a lead. It takes the pressure off," said Francom, who will pitch for Utah Valley State next year. "After that, I just wanted to make sure we got done in five."

The senior right-hander managed to do that despite taking a hard come-backer off his right shin in the third inning. The injury was determined not to be serious by his coaches and trainers, but it seemed to limit his effectiveness as the game wore on.

"It wasn't broken, nothing seemed chipped," Bengals coach Rick Barry said. "We figured it would take an inning or two to work it out, and it seemed like to took a little off his fastball. But the last few batters he sucked it up a little bit."

Bonanza (23-9) built its early lead thanks in large part to some wildness by Cimarron starter Stephen Russell. The Nevada-Reno signee walked four and hit two batters before exiting the game in the second inning.

"He's a real good pitcher and obviously he didn't show his best tonight," Barry said. "But it also takes us being patient and taking advantage of mistakes."

The Bengals also pounded out 10 hits off the Spartans (19-12), with senior shortstop Andrew Smith leading the charge with a pair of doubles. He reached base in all four plate appearances and came around to score each time.

"We did a good job of being patient, and when he did throw it over the plate we were on it," Smith said. "We were more aggressive than we've been lately."

Billy Osgood finished with three hits and three runs for the victors, who also got two RBIs apiece from Bobby McMurray, Keith Beall and Brandon Willmott.

Chris Davila and Jorge Esquivel each had a pair of hits for Cimarron.

Bonanza advances to play Bishop Gorman today at 3 p.m. at Cimarron-Memorial. The Gaels (25-10) advanced with an 8-3 win over Mojave on Wednesday behind a complete-game from pitcher Jordan Smiley.

The Spartans drop into the loser's bracket, where they will face Mojave (8-18) today at 3 p.m. at Sierra Vista.

In other games at the four-day Sunset tournament, Palo Verde topped Durango 8-4 and Centennial handled Sierra Vista 10-0.

In Sunrise Region Tournament action Wednesday, Las Vegas pitchers Daniel McKean and Pete White combined on a shutout in the Wildcats' 1-0 win over defending state champion Green Valley.

Foothill opened with a 5-0 victory over Chaparral on Jabe Beard's complete-game shutout, Basic downed Eldorado 10-2 and Silverado rolled past Desert Pines 11-1.