3A STATE: Unruh, Crusaders breeze to opening win

Faith Lutheran pitcher Terry Unruh pointed to offense as the key to the Crusaders baseball team’s seven-game winning streak.

While Faith Lutheran has scored 82 runs during that stretch, pitching gems like Unruh delivered Thursday don’t hurt.

Unruh tossed a four-hitter and the Crusaders scored five runs in the first inning on the way to a 9-0 home win over Spring Creek in the opening game of the double-elimination Class 3A state tournament.

“It was probably one of the best games he’s thrown all year,” Faith Lutheran coach Tony Girod said of Unruh.

Unruh struck out 12 and walked one. At the plate, he was 2-for-4 with a triple and four RBIs.

“It’s the biggest win of the tournament, I think,” Unruh said. “You want to come out and get the first win. It’s the most important one.”

 

The four-team state tourney resumes today at Faith Lutheran.

Seeded second from the South, the Crusaders (14-20) will meet South No. 1 seed and defending state champion Virgin Valley (26-7) at 3 p.m. for a spot in Saturday’s title game.

North No. 1 Spring Creek (26-7-1) plays North No. 2 Truckee (21-13) in an elimination game at noon today, with the winner playing another elimination game at 6 p.m.

“It’s the most important game,” Girod said of winning the opener. “You don’t want to start off in the losers’ bracket. Whoever goes through to the finals has an advantage, obviously, playing less games.”

Unruh highlighted the Crusaders’ five-run first inning with a two-run triple and the four-run sixth with a two-run single.

“It’s his turn,” Girod said of Unruh. “He’s a senior, he’s a leader and he’s stepping up at the right time.”

Nick Bata was 3-for-3 with two doubles for Faith Lutheran. Bobby Burns (two RBIs) and Daniel Ward had two hits each.

 

Alex Baker went 2-for-3 with a double to lead the Spartans.

Virgin Valley 4, Truckee 1 — Travis Leavitt pitched a three-hitter with 13 strikeouts to lift the Bulldogs past the Wolverines in the other first-round game.

“I was just throwing my fastball,” said Leavitt, who walked one. “They weren’t catching up to it, so I just stayed with it.”

Zach Horlacher crushed a two-run homer to center field with one out in the bottom of the third inning to give Virgin Valley a 2-0 lead.

“We’d had the bases full all game long before that and couldn’t get anything in, so that finally broke the ice,” Bulldogs coach Boyd Wittwer said.

Virgin Valley won despite leaving 12 runners on base and committing three errors.

Jonathan Gleave was 2-for-2 with an RBI double for the Bulldogs, who will try to improve to 4-1 on the season against Faith Lutheran today.

“We’ve always wanted to take state in the first place, but now we’ve got a chance to repeat,” Leavitt said.