Rams’ ‘big pup’ Wieger gets win over Coronado

One can’t overstate the importance of winning the opener in a double-elimination baseball tournament.

Andrew Wieger made sure Rancho got off on the right foot Tuesday.

Wieger fired a four-hitter, and the Rams held off visiting Coronado 4-1 in the opening round of the Sunrise Region baseball tournament.

“Any time you come into the first round, you have to win the first one,” Rancho coach Tom Pletsch said. “Andrew did a great job today on the mound. We got some timely hitting, and it’s nice to get the first one off the ground.”

Wieger struck out six and didn’t walk a batter. He threw first-pitch strikes to 22 of the 26 batters he faced.

“He worked ahead with the hitters,” Pletsch said. “I think he had six strikeouts, but more importantly, he pounded the zone and made them put the ball in play. We played solid defense today. If we can continue to do that, maybe good things will happen.”

The Rams scored three runs in the first against the defending Division I state champs to give Wieger an early advantage.

Bryce Harrell led off with a walk and stole second. He advanced to third after the throw hit him and got away.

One out later, Jose Verdugo hit a come-backer to the mound. Jackson Cofer fielded it and caught Harrell leaning toward the plate.

Cofer fired to third as Harrell broke for home, but third baseman Caden Spilsbury dropped the ball on the exchange to the plate, allowing Harrell to score.

David Modler was hit by a pitch, and Kavion Kealoha walked to load the bases.

Zach Barnhart then lined a two-run single to right field to put the Rams ahead 3-0.

“They’ve got a younger team this year,” Pletsch said. “Being in the playoffs, it’s kind of tough that first inning or two. They made a couple errors, booted it around a little bit and got behind. It kind of cost them.”

The Cougars cut the lead to 3-1 in the third when they got a two-out, RBI double from Jacen Yergensen.

Wieger, a 6-foot-5-inch, 250-pound junior, was in control from there, allowing just two singles the rest of the way to improve his record to 7-1.

Rancho (23-8) plays at Liberty (25-4) today. All of today’s games are at 3:30 p.m.

“We have three different people that we think can be our No. 1 on a given day,” Pletsch said. “Andrew stepped up today. We threw him today because with his big body he can come back on Saturday and give us another seven (innings). He’s just a junior, and he’s like a big pup as far as we’re concerned.”

Josh Mill added a pinch-hit, RBI single in the fourth for Rancho to push the lead back to three.

“The one thing that we have to get is timely hitting,” Pletsch said. “If we get the timely hitting, we’re going to be a force to reckon with before it’s over.”

Coronado (19-11) hosts Las Vegas (12-18) in an elimination game today.

■ Liberty 3, Las Vegas 2 — At Liberty, Nick Rush was 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI as the Patriots held off the Wildcats.

Trevor Mullaney tossed three scoreless innings of relief, including striking out the side in the sixth inning, for Liberty.

Antonio Gaxiola and Jamie Solis each had two hits for Las Vegas.

■ Green Valley 3, Foothill 1 — At Green Valley, Anthony Hatch and Keaton Smith each went 1-for-3 with an RBI, and the Gators scored three runs in the sixth to beat the Falcons.

Green Valley (24-7) scored on a fielder’s choice, a squeeze bunt and a throwing error.

Keola Paragas pitched the distance, allowing four hits, to get the win. The Gators host Basic (24-9) today.

Collin Dobrolecki had a home run in the first inning for Foothill (16-14), which plays at Silverado (14-16) in an elimination game.

■ Basic 5, Silverado 3 — At Basic, Ryne Nelson went 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs, and Ali Deolarte was 2-for-3 as the Wolves beat the Skyhawks.

Logan Green hit a double, and Skylar Mahoney had two hits and scored a run for Basic.

Mikey York struck out nine in six innings and picked up the win, and Josh McLean earned the save for the Wolves.

Vincent Taormina had a double for Silverado.

SUNSET REGION

Shadow Ridge’s baseball team scored on an error in the bottom of the 10th inning to claim a 4-3 home win over Cimarron-Memorial in the opening round of the Division I Sunset Region tournament.

Travis Caskie’s fielder’s choice resulted in a throwing error that allowed Brady Hoskins to score from third with the winning run.

Hoskins reached on a leadoff bloop single to the left-field gap and took second on a walk by Franicisco Robles. A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, but relief pitcher Giovinco got pinch hitter Dustin McDonald to line out to shortstop. Caskie then pushed an infield chopper to second that scored Hoskins with the winning run.

The Mustangs advanced into the winners’ bracket and will play at Bishop Gorman today. All of today’s games are at 3:30 p.m.

Feeling his team needed a strong start to its postseason run, Shadow Ridge coach Frank Tousa turned to ace starter Jake Wilson.

Wilson responded by throwing seven solid innings with eight strikeouts.

Wilson allowed a two-run single to Tyler Giovinco, who scored on an RBI single by Logan Bottrell to give the Spartans a 3-0 lead in the second. Wilson then found his groove and tossed five straight scoreless innings before being yanked by Tousa at the start of the eighth after 115 pitches.

“Jake’s done that all year for us,” Tousa said. “He pounds the strike zone with all three of his pitches. He’s pitched really well in big games for us against good competition, and he did it again today.”

Wilson worked out of jams and struck out the final batter in the third, fourth, sixth and seventh innings, each time stranding the potential go-ahead runs on base.

Shadow Ridge responded with three runs in the third by loading the bases and taking advantage of a two-run infield error and an RBI single by Tyler Burton.

Cimarron-Memorial’s Larry Quaney held the Mustangs scoreless after that by alternating a swift fastball with a solid change-up and finished with 11 strikeouts on 101 pitches in nine innings.

“Larry did a great job on the mound, but a couple of mistakes by his team in giving up those three runs hurt,” Tousa said. “You have to tip your hat to him. It was a great job by him.”

Tousa replaced Wilson in the eighth inning with sophomore Chris Opolka, who tossed three scoreless innings of relief to get the win. Opolka gave up three straight one-out singles in the eighth but got a laser outfield assist from Caskie to nab Cimarron’s Adam Mitchell at the plate. Opolka then got Jamie Yanchisin to ground out to short, stranding runners at first and third.

Opolka escaped danger again in the 10th inning when right fielder Eric Jordan threw out leadoff hitter Niko Decolati at third base after Decolati’s blooper dropped fair down the right-field line. Opolka eventually stranded Mitchell at second base by striking out Trevor Lippard and getting Ryan McHale to fly to left.

Jordan Hand was 3-for-4 with a run, and Burton had two hits and an RBI for Shadow Ridge.

Mitchell finished 3-for-5, and Giovinco had two hits, two RBIs and a run for Cimarron, which got two his from Alexander Marco.

Cimarron (21-9) hosts Palo Verde (12-18) in an elimination game today.

■ Arbor View 9, Desert Oasis 6 — At Arbor View, Kevin Johns’ three-run triple in the bottom of the sixth gave the Aggies the lead as they downed the Diamondbacks.

Arbor View trailed 5-4 going into the bottom of the sixth, but Quinn Gallagher and Joe Fitzhugh started the inning with consecutive singles. One out later, Kaid Urban drew an intentional walk to load the bases for Johns, who cleared the bases with a triple to make the score 8-6.

He scored on an RBI single by Sam Pastrone.

Johns was 3-for-4 with three runs, and Nick Quintana went 2-for-3 with a double and a triple for the Aggies. Gallagher had two hits for the Aggies.

Ben Cutting threw 1 2/3 innings of relief with two strikeouts to get the win for the Aggies, who host Centennial (22-11) today.

Desert Oasis’ Zach Rickard went 2-for-4 with a triple, and Chris Van Kuren was 2-for-3 for the Diamondbacks (13-20), who play at Spring Valley (15-15) in an elimination game today.

■ Centennial 22, Spring Valley 2 — At Centennial, Hayden Grant and Jacob Horton each went 3-for-4 with a double, four RBIs and two runs, and Will Loucks was 2-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and two runs as the Bulldogs routed the Grizzlies in five innings.

Winning pitcher Cooper Powell was 2-for-3 with a double and two runs, and Tanner Wright went 2-for-3 with a double and four runs for Centennial.

Michael Macove went 2-for-3, and Bryce Bullock had a double for Spring Valley.

■ Bishop Gorman 6, Palo Verde 3 — At Gorman, Brandon Wulff was 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs to lead the Gaels by the Panthers.

Bronson Bowe went 2-for-3, and Andrew Newson had two RBIs for Gorman.

Palo Verde’s Will Hamilton was 2-for-3 with a double.

I-A SOUTHERN REGION

Carlos Rivera’s RBI single in the seventh inning gave Pahrump Valley’s baseball team a 5-4 home victory over Tech in the Division I-A Southern Region tournament.

With the Trojans trailing 4-3, Dylan Ault led off the bottom of the seventh with a double to left. Chad Uyeno was intentionally walked, and A.J. Segura, Richard Greene and Rivera hit consecutive singles to end the game.

Rivera was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and Josh Mortensen was 2-for-4 for the Rattlers. Mortensen claimed the win after pitching three innings of relief.

Tech’s Sebastian Fitzgerald was 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs, and Trevor Kephart added a double for the Roadrunners (14-10), who host Cheyenne (9-14) in an elimination game today.

Pahrump (21-8-1) plays at Chaparral (22-9).

■ Faith Lutheran 10, Moapa Valley 0 — At Faith Lutheran, Jordan Dreibelbis threw a three-hitter to lead the Crusaders over the Pirates in six innings. Dreibelbis struck out 11 and walked one.

Erich Uelmen was 2-for-4 with four RBIs for Faith Lutheran (24-6), which hosts Boulder City (19-6-2) today.

Dakota Greenawalt went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and teammate Zach Trageton was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI for the Crusaders.

Moapa Valley (10-13) plays at Mojave (16-15) today in an elimination game.

■ Chaparral 8, Cheyenne 0 — At Chaparral, Tommy Crone gave up two hits and struck out 11 in six innings and went 2-for-2 with a triple and two runs to help the Cowboys down the Desert Shields.

Jose Ortiz was 3-for-4 with a double, triple and two RBIs, and Luis Giro went 2-for-3 with a double, two runs and two RBIs for Chaparral, which finished with 14 hits. Vicente Hernandez had two singles and Robert Ramirez doubled for the Cowboys.

Korey Poole, Scott Flinn and Brian Corder each had a single for Cheyenne.

■ Boulder City 17, Mojave 7 — At Boulder City, Preston Van Diest was 3-for-5 with a double, three runs and five RBIs to help the Eagles top the Rattlers in six innings.

Mario Castanon pitched 3 1/3 innings of relief to get the win, and he was 2-for-4 with a double, a run and two RBIs. Nolan Desantis went 4-for-4 with a double and three runs, and teammate Peyton Koopman had three singles for the Eagles.

Mojave’s Tyler Ledgister was 3-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs.