Spartans rally from bad start to top Gators

Tuesday’s game didn’t start out as planned for Josh Nuernberg and his Cimarron-Memorial baseball teammates.

But it certainly ended the way they wanted.

The senior right-hander gave up back-to-back home runs with two outs in the top of the first to give Green Valley an early lead. But Nuernberg settled in to pitch five strong innings, and the Spartans scored two or more runs in four consecutive frames on the way to a 9-3 win over the visiting Gators.

“He left one up for the three-hole hitter and he hammered it,” Cimarron coach Mike Hubel said. “And he threw a good pitch to that four-hole hitter and he went down and got it. That’s baseball.”

Michael Hillcoat hit a 2-0 fastball over the left-field fence for Green Valley’s first run, and Troy Cropper followed with a line shot to right.

But Nuernberg was good from there. He allowed three runs on five hits in five innings. He struck out seven with no walks.

“He was a little upset with himself,” Hubel said. “But in talking to him, it’s like, 'Hey, you’re going to throw good pitches and they’re going to hammer them, and you’re going to throw bad pitches and they’re going to miss them. That’s part of the game.’ ”

Cimarron (7-1) scored three times in the second to take the lead for good. The Spartans got RBI singles from Matt Mosca and Logan Bottrell in the inning.

Cimarron scored two runs an inning from the third to the fifth to take control.

“We don’t need big, huge innings,” Hubel said. “As long as we keep one or two or three on the board every inning, over the period of seven innings you have a few runs on your hands. That’ll win you a lot of ballgames.”

Bottrell went 4-for-4 with two RBIs, and Tanner McAninch was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs to lead Cimarron’s 14-hit attack. Jayson Hicks added two hits, including a solo homer, for the Spartans.

Cropper went 2-for-3 for Green Valley (6-4).