REGION BASEBALL: Robinson shrugs off tough first inning, leads Needles to Division III title
Needles pitcher Benny Robinson could easily have lost his composure after giving up two runs in the top of the first Saturday in the Division III Southern Region baseball tournament championship game.
But Robinson isn’t a typical sophomore.
The right-hander went 6 1/3 innings, striking out five, and also supplied a pair of RBI singles to help power the Mustangs to a 7-2 win over Laughlin at Mountain View.
“Benny got a little bit of a taste last year as a freshman. He was my three guy,” Needles coach Ken Parker said. “(He got) a year under the belt and where we were playoff situation last year — division and league, and then making it to the final days of state last year — he was a big piece of it. His success allowed him to understand that it’s an inning-by-inning, pitch-by-pitch ballgame.”
Both teams advance to next week’s Division III state tournament, which begins Thursday at The Meadows. Needles (17-6) will play at 4 p.m., and Laughlin (23-8) plays at 1 p.m.
After a base-running blunder cost the Mustangs a run in the bottom of the first, they didn’t waver.
Robinson’s RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the first got Needles on the board, and a pair of inning-ending double plays helped him escape trouble in the second and third on the mound. He set down 10 of the next 13 batters he faced, before exiting with one out in the top of the seventh.
“I was able to settle down after the first,” Robinson said. “I used my fastball to complement my breaking ball and our defense played great. This was just a great opportunity.”
The Mustangs tied the game in the fourth on a bases-loaded wild pitch, then took a 3-2 lead on a sacrifice fly from Devin Truscott in the fifth. Needles went on to plate four runs in the bottom of the sixth, buoyed by Mason Cisneros’ RBI double and a Laughlin error that allowed two runs to score.
Cisneros was 3-for-4 with a stolen base.
DIVISION IV SOUTHERN LEAGUE
Round Mountain topped host Pahranagat Valley 9-2 in the second game on Saturday to win the Division IV Southern League title.
Pahranagat Valley had beaten the Knights 8-3 in the opener to force the deciding game.
Both teams advance to next week’s state tournament, which begins Thursday at Rancho.