Sunrise Region: Basic rallies in eighth to beat Coronado

Basic’s baseball team hadn’t done a thing offensively for seven innings.

They did enough in the bottom of the eighth to move into the championship round of the Sunrise Region tournament.

John Howard Bobo’s two-run double allowed the Wolves to pull out a 2-1 win over visiting Coronado in the winners’ bracket final.

“We were frustrated the whole game,” Basic coach Scott Baker said. “At the end we actually had a better approach, which took a little too long for us today, but in the end we pulled it out.”

Coronado pitcher hadn’t allowed a Basic runner past first base through seven innings. But pinch hitter Dalton Miller led off with a single to get things started for the Wolves in the eighth.

Nick Thompson put down a sacrifice bunt, but the throw to second was errant, putting runners on first and third, and setting up Bobo’s winning hit to the gap.

Coronado had taken the lead in the top of the eighth when Logan Bleazard doubled home Ethan Stephens for the game’s first run.

The Cougars had a number of opportunities throughout the game against Basic starter Shane Spencer, with a runner reaching at least second base in all six innings he pitched. But, in every inning, Spencer got the outs he needed, including inducing a double play in the third inning with runners on first and second, and getting a strikeout and flyout in a similar spot in the fifth.

“Shane Spencer’s been in some gigantic games the last couple years,” Baker said. “He was in the championship game of the American Legion World Series, so he has the experience to work himself out of that. He was hurt most of the year, so to get that kind of effort out of him, with not a lot of innings, I can’t say enough. We love him on the mound in this spot.”

Spencer allowed six hits and struck out four in six scoreless innings before giving way to Nick Thompson, who got the win in relief.

“I was feeling great throughout the entire game,” Spencer said. “I’ve been out pretty much the whole season, but after the (two-out) triple in the second by (Braeden) Ewing, I just said, ‘Forget about the triple,’ and just went back to the batters and pumped it up. I just told myself to throw strikes and make sure the mechanics were good.”

Basic (29-5) advances to the championship round on Saturday at noon at Green Valley.

Rancho (27-7) and Green Valley (20-12) play at 1 p.m. on Friday at Green Valley, with the winner playing Coronado (21-11) at 4 p.m.

The winner of that game would have to beat Basic twice on Saturday to win the title.

Green Valley 6, Liberty 5 — At Green Valley, Jake Empey’s home run to center field leading off the bottom of the eighth inning capped an improbable rally as the Gators staved off elimination by edging the Patriots.

Green Valley trailed 5-2 entering the bottom of the seventh inning.

Scott Gruber singled to lead off the Gators’ half of the seventh and scored on Max Leuga’s homer that trimmed Liberty’s lead to 5-4. With one out, Josh George singled.

With two outs, George moved to second on a wild pitch. Carter Gehlken drew a walk, and George advanced to third on a passed ball. A wild throw on a pickoff attempt allowed George to score the tying run.

Empey then ended the game by homering on the first pitch of the bottom of the eighth.

Gehlken and Nelson each went 2-for-3 for the Gators.

Dylan San Nicolas was 1-for-4 with a double and two RBIs for Liberty (17-15).

Rancho 11, Foothill 5 — At Rancho, Joey Walls went 3-for-3 with a grand slam, a double and six RBIs to lead the Rams by the Falcons in an elimination game.

Walls’ grand slam in the sixth inning expanded Rancho’s lead to 10-5.

Matthew Baughn was 3-for-4 with an RBI, and Anthony Guzman went 2-for-3 with two doubles, two runs and two RBIs for Rancho.

Tommy Dirk was 2-for-4 with two RBIs for Foothill (17-15).