Basic reaches 5A baseball state title game; Crusaders ousted — PHOTOS

RENO — There hasn’t been a shortage of excitement when Basic and Faith Lutheran’s baseball teams have played this season.

The teams’ seventh meeting of the year, at the Class 5A state tournament on Friday, was no exception.

Basic trailed by as many as six runs and was behind in the bottom of the seventh inning, but the Wolves rallied for a 9-8 walk-off win over Faith Lutheran on a bases-loaded walk in a winners’ bracket state semifinal at UNR’s Peccole Park to advance to the title game.

“It shows what our team is about,” said Basic second baseman Lyndon Lee, who had a two-run double in the seventh to tie the game. “We never give up. We got a bunch of dogs on our team. This team, it’s one to remember for sure. Nothing — I can’t even explain my emotions of how happy I am.”

Basic (24-7), the Southern Region champion, will play Reno High (27-14), the North’s No. 2 seed, at 10 a.m. Saturday for the 5A state title. Reno must beat Basic twice to claim the title since the Wolves have not lost in the double-elimination tournament.

“It’s unbelievable. Every time we play Faith Lutheran, it’s back and forth and back and forth,” Basic coach Gino DiMaria said. “Our kids, we’re down, whatever it may be, we always know deep inside — every team says we still have a chance — but our kids thoroughly believe that we have a chance. They showed it. They kept fighting, and we finally just got a break.”

Reno beat Faith Lutheran, the South’s No. 2 seed, 7-4 in an elimination game later Friday. The Crusaders (22-18) jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but Reno scored five runs in the top of the seventh to rally and take the lead.

Reno opened Friday with a 6-4 win over Bishop Manogue (28-8), the North’s No. 1 seed, in an elimination game.

Down to last out

Against Faith Lutheran, Basic entered the bottom of the seventh trailing 8-6 and was down to its final out when Tyler Lipka struck out the first two batters of the inning. Then, Tate Southisene and Troy Southisene had back-to-back singles to put runners on first and second.

That set up Lee, who smacked a breaking ball down the left-field line to score the Southisene brothers and tie the score at 8-8.

“We faced (Lipka) plenty of times before, so I knew his (breaking ball) was there, and I saw it, jumped on it and it happened,” Lee said. “It dropped, a double down the line. I can’t express what’s happening. It’s amazing. It’s great.”

It appeared the inning would end when Dallon Cegavske hit a ground ball to Kingston Kela, but the Faith Lutheran third baseman tried to tag Lee going to third and missed and kept the inning alive. Ace Sapp got hit with a pitch to load the bases.

Faith Lutheran, using its third pitcher of the inning, walked Gabe Giron on a pitch high and inside with the bases loaded, and the Wolves stormed the field while patiently waiting to mob Lee until he touched home plate with the game-winning run.

“That’s a huge at-bat,” DiMaria said of Lee’s hit. “We had (two) outs. (Lee) did his job to get the next man up. He caught a pitch in his zone, did best with what he had and scored those two runs. That’s a big lift for him. He’s been having a pretty good tournament, and we need him to keep swinging the same way.”

‘Work out of it’

Troy Southisene earned the win on the mound, pitching the final 1⅔ innings. After Kela hit a sacrifice fly to put Faith Lutheran up 8-6 in the sixth, Troy Southisene stranded runners at first and second and threw a scoreless seventh.

“Troy didn’t pitch (this season) until Faith in the third game of the playoffs in the Southern Region. He’s just hard to hit,” said DiMaria, who noted that Troy Southisene has been limited pitching and fielding due to a hamstring injury. “He’s just a gamer, he’s a dog out there, and we just have no doubt he’s going to give it. … He just fights, fights, fights, and he did today.”

Troy Southisene also stepped up at the plate to help Basic begin to dig out of a 7-2 deficit in the fifth inning. His two-run double in the fifth highlighted a four-run inning to cut into Faith Lutheran’s lead and trail 7-6.

“It was a spark for sure, we needed a spark,” said Troy Southisene, who finished 3-for-4. “I told these guys to say we’re really in this game. We have all the fight we have. We have a close family, and it ain’t over till it’s over.”

Faith Lutheran scored a run in each of the first two innings, and Dylan Swanson’s two-run double highlighted a three-run third to put Faith Lutheran ahead 5-0. The Crusaders went up 6-0 after a Rouselle Shepard home run in the fourth.

“We preach to learn to live in the land of uncomfortable,” DiMaria said. “We put ourselves in situations like this that are uncomfortable and have to work out of it. We did a really good job today of being able to work under that of being uncomfortable.”

Lee finished with three RBIs for Basic, and Tate Southisene was 3-for-4 with three runs scored. DiMaria said winning and playing one game Friday was important with the Wolves’ pitching not as deep as the other teams in the state tournament.

“All these guys want to compete, and it’s just a family,” Troy Southisene said. “It’s hard to tear us apart. I’m really proud of these boys, and we’re not done yet. This team, it doesn’t matter if we’re down by 20, these guys have a lot of fight and a lot of heart. It’s a family.”

Basic is going for its eighth state title in program history. It appeared the Wolves would have had that chance last year, but they missed the postseason after having to forfeit most of their league games for using an ineligible player.

“This is a hungry team, we’re hungry,” Troy Southisene said. “We really want to win. We’re going to empty out the tank tomorrow, you’ll see that for sure.”

Reno rallies

It appeared Faith Lutheran would get an eighth meeting with Basic as the Crusaders held a 3-0 lead over Reno after three innings. Then the wheels fell off in the top of the seventh.

Reno sent 11 batters to the plate, got four hits and scored five runs to take the lead and hold on for the win. Entering the seventh trailing 3-2, Darrel Dalen evened the score with an RBI single, and the Huskies took the lead on a Logan Ford RBI triple.

The Huskies added two more runs in the inning on a Faith Lutheran throwing error.

Kela went 2-for-4 for Faith Lutheran and had a two-run triple in the third to help the Crusaders go ahead 3-0.

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.