Basic hands Coronado first Sunrise defeat

Despite winning four of its past five games, Basic baseball coach Scott Baker thought his team hadn’t been playing well recently.

But Baker couldn’t find many flaws in the Wolves’ performance Wednesday.

Dominic Opipari and Shane Spencer combined on a two-hit shutout, and visiting Basic knocked No. 3 Coronado from the ranks of the unbeatens in the Class 4A Sunrise League with a 3-0 win.

“This was a much-needed win for confidence, get things going on the right track,” Baker said. “We’ve been depleted pretty much all year. We’ve had some ineligibilities. We’ve had two, three injuries. So we’ve been trying to piece this thing together to try to get everybody back. We’re getting close.”

Opipari earned the victory with five innings of one-hit ball, throwing 32 of his 60 pitches for strikes. The senior walked three but didn’t allow a runner past second base.

Opipari got out of a two-on, two-out jam in the third inning unscathed. He stranded a runner at second in the fifth when Wolves third baseman Garrett Giles fielded a bad-hop grounder and threw out Joey Calvert to end the inning.

“He pitched a lot for us this summer,” Baker said. “He just did what we wanted. He threw strikes. I think we threw three offspeed pitches all day.”

John Howard Bobo was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, and Jack Wold belted a solo homer in the sixth to lead fourth-ranked Basic (10-2, 5-2 Sunrise League), which had the leadoff batter reach base in every inning.

Bobo opened the game with a single to right field and advanced to second on an errant pickoff throw. Christian Rivero sacrificed Bobo to third, and two batters later, Trace Evans delivered a run-scoring single.

In the fifth, Paul Myro drew a leadoff walk and eventually scored on Bobo’s two-out double down the right-field line.

Braeden Ewing was 1-for-3 with a double, and Garret Lake was 1-for-3 for the Cougars (9-3, 6-1).

Coronado starter Kyle Hall went six solid innings, allowing seven hits.

“Hall is a great arm, and it’s not easy to just keep stringing hits together off him,” Baker said. “We did have some big two-out hits.”

Contact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.