Enter Sandman:

Nick Christensen

Thursday, May 19, 2005 | 9:43 a.m.

He's Sierra Vista's sandman, lulling opponents to sleep in the late innings of games. And if the Mountain Lions win the state championship this weekend, The Metallica Kid will undoubtedly have had a big part of the title run.

That's what Lions players and coaches say about junior reliever Justin Mettelka, a 5-foot-11, 160-pound fireballer who, going into tonight's state championship opener against Spanish Springs, has retired 20 of the past 24 batters he's faced.

Mettelka hasn't given up a run since April 25, nor an earned run since March 29. His late-inning dominance has played a huge role in the confidence the Mountain Lions built during their 31-5 regular season run.

"It's always good to have a guy we can throw on the mound and shut teams down in the late innings," Sierra Vista outfielder Scott Berke said. "That's the problem with Vegas. You've got good starting pitching but you don't have an actual closer-type guy. That's what Metallica's been able to do this season. Put him in and the game's over."

With his braces and slight stature, Mettelka doesn't exactly have the presence of Eric Gagne. He's not even a big Metallica fan, saying he was disappointed with the metal act's latest album.

But Mountain Lions coach Nate Selby emphasizes that Mettelka is possibly the most important pitcher on his team.

"My philosophy is I'd like to have my best guy in the pen. That's when the meat and potatoes are going on," Selby said. "Not everybody can do it. We moved (Justin) Garcia into the pen as a sophomore, and it didn't work nearly as well as the Metallica move worked."

Selby said Mettelka, like every high school pitcher, wants to start. But Mettelka, who said he picked up the name Metallica his freshman year at Sierra Vista simply because nobody could pronounce his name properly, said he's satisfied for now filling the closer's role.

"I definitely like my spot on the team," he said. "Hopefully next year I'll be a starter or come in and close again. It doesn't really matter. I love coming in in pressure situations and shutting it down."

Lions ace Chad Riddle, who will start tonight, said Mettelka's presence on the bench during games makes it easier on him. In the Sunset Region championship game against Durango, Riddle and Mettelka combined for a seven-inning two hitter.

"It's a being comfortable, relaxation feeling," Riddle said. "He started kinda slow at the beginning of the season, but all of the sudden he got hot and stayed hot."

Riddle wouldn't say Mettelka actually takes pressure off him, because, as he said, the coaching staff tries to downplay the idea of pressure at all.

"There's no such thing as pressure. Pressure is something you put on yourself," he said. "As long as we go out there and play our game, we play our hardest, we're going to win."

The Mountain Lions are considered the most complete team in the four-team field. Riddle, as well as Garcia and Drew Leary, is capable of throwing seven strong innings. And with Mettelka at the ready, they generally don't need to. The team is strong defensively, with 52 errors this year and a .952 fielding percentage.

And at the plate, Sierra Vista has two of the biggest power threats in Southern Nevada. Berke has a dozen doubles and 12 more home runs, and third baseman Chris Carter has nine doubles and seven homers.

"We've won some games using the long ball," Selby said. "We do as much short game as anybody else. We try to manufacture runs -- try to encourage kids to hit the ball on the ground the other way and run. We'd like to hit a few big balls, but I don't know that that's going to necessarily happen."

The Mountain Lions will likely be paired against Spanish Springs lefty Steve Masten, a magnet for pro scouts with a 92 mph fastball.

That's just about as much intel as anyone in the south has on the Cougars.

"All we know is he's a lefty and he throws pretty good," Carter said.