SUNRISE BASEBALL: Rancho silences naysayers with win over Falcons

Before upsetting Southeast League champion Coronado on Monday, Tom Pletsch knew his Rancho baseball squad was hardly anyone’s favorite to make it out of the Division I Sunrise Region Tournament.

“To be honest with you, I think at the start of the tournament a lot of people had us written off for dead,” Pletsch said. “But our kids play hard. They never give up and have a lot of heart.”

The Rams’ message was even clearer on Tuesday: doubters beware.

Bryce Harrell knocked in the go-ahead run on a base hit to left with two outs in the top of the sixth to push Rancho past Foothill 3-2 . The Rams (21-13) will play Liberty (25-4) at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Las Vegas in the winners’ bracket final.

“We’ve been able to put two quality games together and we’re playing Liberty tomorrow in the semifinal game,” Pletsch said. “We look at them very similar to Coronado. We know that everyday they’re going to show up, everyday they’re going to play. We don’t expect anything but a tough game.”

The Rams didn’t have it easy offensively in the early innings, failing to score with the bases loaded in the second and with runners in scoring position in both the third and the fourth. Eric Allen’s squeeze bunt with no outs and runners on first and third in the fifth helped push across the game’s first run.

“We were a hit away from getting something going (in the early innings), but I have to give Foothill credit. They made every play on defense and shut us down,” Pletsch said. “In the fifth, we finally got something going and it was the bunt with two strikes that did it.”  

The Falcons came up late on the play at home, and an errant throw to first went down the right field line, allowing the Rancho runners to advance to second and third.

The Rams tacked on another run with one out on David Modler’s high infield chopper that plated Harrell and extended the lead to 2-0.   

Rancho starting pitcher Josh Mill battled back after giving up two unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth to pick up the complete-game win. The junior right-hander allowed three hits with six strikeouts and no walks.

“Josh was able to spot his pitches,” Pletsch said. “Early in the game, he got a lot of first-pitch strikes. In the middle innings, he got away from the first-pitch strike and got behind a little bit. Josh has been our best pitcher all year and his command was on today.”

Harrell went 2-for-4 with a run, and teammate Alex Jordan was 2-for-3 for Rancho.

Starting pitcher Tyler Van Stone went seven innings, striking out five in the loss for Foothill (21-10), which will take on Basic (13-20) at 1 p.m. at Las Vegas in an elimination game.

Liberty 2, Basic 0 — At Liberty, Nate Bennett fired a five-hitter as the Patriots edged the Wolves.

Bennett struck out six, including three in the seventh inning to help secure the win. Bennett struck out the final two to strand runners at second and third.

Preston Pavlica had a two-run single in the fourth inning to account for Liberty’s runs.

Giovanni Battistoni was 2-for-3 for Liberty.

Tyler Long went 2-for-3 for Basic, and also went the distance, allowing just five hits.

Coronado 2, Las Vegas 0 — At Coronado, Chandler Blanchard fired a three-hitter with nine strikeouts as the Cougars topped the Wildcats.

James Anderson’s RBI double highlighted a two-run second for Coronado (27-3), which faces Basic (13-20) in an elimination game at 1 p.m. today.

Jose Sanchez threw a three-hitter with four strikeouts for Las Vegas, which finished 17-13.

Green Valley 3, Silverado 0 — At Green Valley, Jarod Penniman went 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs to help the Gators eliminate the Skyhawks (12-18-1).

Michael Hillcoat and Ryan Jackson each supplied two hits for Green Valley (22-10). Blake Inouye pitched six shutout innings to earn the win and combined with Quintin Kohorst on the three-hit shutout with Kohorst getting the save.