SUNRISE REGION: Diminutive Jordan delivers in big way for Rancho

Alex Jordan isn’t Rancho’s most imposing hitter.

But the 5-foot-6-inch, 145-pound second baseman was the right player for the job on Tuesday.

Jordan hit a sacrifice fly with one out in the bottom of the seventh to score Matt Almodover and give the Rams a 4-3 home victory over Green Valley in the opening round of the Sunrise Region baseball tournament.

“Alex is just a great kid,” Rancho coach Tom Pletsch said. “He gets the most out of his ability. And he’s probably the hardest worker on the team. It was probably a blessing that he was the one that came up and got the hit, because there was nobody that worked harder than him all year.”

Rancho (19-12) plays at Silverado (22-8-1) at 3:30 p.m. today. Green Valley (18-14) hosts Sunrise Mountain (10-14) in an elimination game, also at 3:30.

Almodover, a freshman outfielder, started the rally with a one-out double down the third-base line. Eric Allen was intentionally walked, and both runners moved up on a wild pitch to set up Jordan’s second sacrifice fly of the game. The Rams had tied the game on Jordan’s fifth-inning sacrifice fly.

“Matt’s going to have a tremendous career here at Rancho,” Pletsch said of Almodover. “He struggled early being a freshman, but he’s really come on the second half of the season. He’s going to be a great player.”

Sophomore Josh Mill threw six innings of relief, allowing a pair of unearned runs, to get the win. Mill gave up one hit, struck out four and walked two.

“Josh is our guy,” Pletsch said. “Stats may not show it, because he always draws the biggest opponent, but he’s our guy. We didn’t start him today because we wanted the lefty matchup against Green Valley, but he came in and just shut them down and pitched absolutely phenomenal.”

Mill hit the leadoff man and followed that with a walk to start the sixth inning. He came up with back-to-back strikeouts before walking Cody Milner to load the bases for Green Valley leadoff hitter Keaton Smith. But Mill got Smith to ground out to short to end the threat, and he set the Gators down in order in the seventh to keep the game tied, 3-3.

“We’ve had our share of booting the ball and leading for five, six innings and losing it in the seventh,” Pletsch said. “I think it’s a sign of the kids maturing and developing a little character to finally come and succeed and close the door.”

Dylan Pletsch was 3-for-4 with a run, David Modler went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Allen was 2-for-3 for the Rams.

Alec Hutt went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI for Green Valley.

Silverado 12, Sunrise Mountain 1— At Silverado, David Kuzma went 3-for-3 with a triple, three runs and an RBI, and the Skyhawks pushed across eight runs in the first inning en route to the five-inning win.

Vince Taormina, Marty Sifuentes and Josh Bravin each hit a double for Silverado.

Daniel Guardado had a double for Sunrise Mountain.

Foothill 13, Las Vegas 3 — At Las Vegas, Dayton Kurian went 3-for-3 with two runs to help the Falcons knock off the Northeast League champs.

Foothill (20-11) plays at Coronado (24-8) at 3:30 today. Las Vegas (18-11-1) hosts Eldorado (11-19) in an elimination game, also at 3:30.

Tyler Morris went 2-for-4 with two runs for Foothill, which had 13 singles in the game and scored five runs in the fifth inning to take a 7-3 lead. The Falcons then scored five in the sixth to pull away.

Dillon Dove went 3-for-3 with a double and a triple, and Dustin Cash was 2-for-3 with two runs for Las Vegas.

Coronado 10, Eldorado 0— At Coronado, Chandler Blanchard blasted a three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth, helping the Cougars to beat the Sundevils in five innings.

Miles Bice was 3-for-3 with an RBI, and Dillon Fahr went 2-for-3 with a triple and two RBIs for Coronado. Winning pitcher Julian Burrola combined with Cody Howard on a two-hit shutout. Burrola struck out four in four innings.