Centennial field jinx strikes down Panthers once again

Nick Christensen

Thursday, May 12, 2005 | 9:16 a.m.

Whoever is coaching Palo Verde's baseball team next year might want to consult an exorcist before the Panthers play their first game at Centennial High School's field.

"The baseball gods don't like us for one inning at that field," Palo Verde interim coach Artie Besser, Jr. said. "There's always one inning at that field where something doesn't go right."

Unfortunately for Palo Verde, it was the seventh inning that went wrong in Wednesday's playoff game against Bishop Gorman at Centennial.

The Panthers were up 1-0 and were three outs from advancing to face Bonanza in the next round in the one-loss bracket.

But outfielder Taylor Preston had a leadoff infield single, which was followed by a successful bunt to put runners on first and second. Catcher Mike Panaro had a two-RBI double, which was later followed by Corey Roveri's two-out, two-run single. Greg Kline tripled home Roveri, and Preston pitched the bottom of the seventh to help Gorman seal off the 5-1 comeback.

Freshman Paul Sewald gave up three hits and an unearned run in six innings for the Gaels.

"A lot of it's just momentum," Gorman coach Chris Sheff said. "To get a win like we did today, to come from behind, the momentum carries over to tomorrow. Later in the week, when a lot of teams have their three, four and five pitchers going, it's whoever steps up offensively and scores enough runs to win. We think that benefits us."

The collapse left Besser, meanwhile, searching for his book of voodoo tricks.

"I feel bad for (starter Jerry Gamez) because I know how well he pitched, then that one inning came along. I'm thinking we're past the trouble-inning," Besser said. "Maybe next time we go up there we can take some chicken-bone crosses or have someone throw some holy water on the field and have them cleanse it for us."

Besser replaced his brother Mike, who was released last week as the Panthers' coach after five seasons.

"The kids weren't ready to end the season," Besser said. "I certainly wasn't, even on an interim basis."

Bishop Gorman will play Bonanza today at 3 p.m. The Bengals lost to Centennial 9-4 on Wednesday, with the Bulldogs advancing to face the winner of the Gorman-Bonanza matchup.

Once Around Town

The Wildcats cruised to a 13-3, six-inning victory against Rancho at Basic High School. They advance to face Foothill, which beat them 7-5 in the teams' first-round meeting.

"We got a lot of confidence when Ryan Seabolt hit a home run in the second inning to tie the game at two," Thoma said. "They were relaxed, they put teh ball in play, so they did a pretty good job considering that (Rancho starter DJ) Wohlever is probably one of the top two left handers in town."

As for today's rematch with the Falcons, Thomas said to not count out his team.

"Our kids have some fight in them," he said. "We made some mistakes against Foothill that cost us runs. They're just going to have to realize that when we have scoring opportunities we have to take advantage of it."

Eldorado also advanced with a 9-0 victory against Chaparral. The Sundevils will play Silverado at Eldorado at 3 p.m. today.

Bondurant came in with the Wolves up 3-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning at Eldorado, but gave up two walks, two hits and two runs to make Basic coach Mike Kazek too nervous.

"They had the bases loaded, the tying run at third, the winning run at second," Kazek said. "He had a big strikeout and a ground out to end it."

Basic will face the winner of the Silverado-Eldorado game at 6 p.m. today. They'll also have the cushion of an "if-game" on Friday afternoon if they lose today's contest.

"We're in the winners bracket," Kazek said. "It's where we need to stay."

Centennial coach Charlie Cerrone said he's not going to suggest his team scout the Bonanza-Gorman game, nor will he tell them to stay away.

Instead, he said, he wants them to just do what they would do anyway.

"I'm a real big guy on routines, and we'll stick to our routine," Cerrone said. "We hit right after school, we'll cut them loose. They'll probably watch the end of the first game. If you get kids out of their routines, sometimes things don't go the way you want them to."

Not that he wants them to avoid the first game.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with having them watch it," Cerrone said. "If the kids are watching, they can pick up on what teams do."