Coronado rallies, fends off No. 3 Basic

Coronado didn’t have it easy getting the final three outs against reigning 5A state champion Basic.

The Wolves had the top of their lineup come to the plate with a two-run deficit in a crucial Class 5A Desert League game. They looked primed to rally after drawing a pair of lead-off walks, but Coronado reliever Ty Phillips kept their bats quiet.

Phillips retired the final three batters as Coronado fended off Basic, ranked No. 3 in the Review-Journal’s Class 5A baseball rankings, for a 4-3 road victory Monday. The Cougars completed the season sweep of the Wolves after defeating them 8-6 on April 8.

“It’s as tough as a situation that you’re going to put a kid in,” Coronado coach Garrett Smith said of Phillips. “The first two guys got on and we brought in our lefty (Phillips) to see if we could equalize a little change of speed. He did a fantastic job, he’s been great all year.”

Smith brought in Phillips from center field after Basic’s Ty and Troy Southisene walked. Phillips retired Tate Southisene and Cooper Sheff on ground outs. Ty Southisene scored on Sheff’s ground out to make it a one-run game.

Basic’s Lyndon Lee had a chance to bring in the tying run. But Coronado right fielder Kaiden Hernandez battled through the whirling wind to catch Lee’s fly ball and secure the win.

“We played really good defense,” Smith said. “Our pitching kept us in the game for all seven innings. (Basic is) a tough team, they put a lot of balls in play. For us to play clean defense like that and not make any errors was solid by our guys.”

Basic (20-7, 6-4 Class 5A Desert League) took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth after Ty Southisene scored on a wild pitch and Lee drove in a run on an RBI triple.

Coronado (19-10, 7-4) immediately responded in the sixth. The Cougars loaded the bases and Hernandez tied the game with an RBI single. Nick Morrison drove in two more runs as he reached first base on a throwing error, but he was thrown out trying to advance to second base.

“It helped us relax,” Morrison said of the three-run inning. “We started playing loose and had confidence.”

Coronado finished with five hits. Jase Pashales had one of them as he drove in a run on an RBI single in the first to give the Cougars an early 1-0 lead.

Cougars starter Brigham Bleazard earned the win on short rest. He pitched five innings, allowed two runs on eight hits with three strikeouts and stranded seven runners on base.

“(Coach Smith) texted me (Sunday night) and asked me if my arm was feeling good. I told him it was and I wanted the ball,” Bleazard said. “I had a lot of confidence going into this game.”

Basic committed three errors, including two in the sixth that contributed to three Coronado runs.

Smith said Coronado’s defense was essential to the win.

“We had zero errors,” Smith said. “That was the difference for us today.”

Coronado sits in third place in the 5A Desert League standings and is half a game ahead of Basic in the win column while holding the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The Cougars have one more game left, a home league game against Palo Verde on Thursday. A win would likely put the Cougars as the three seed and avoid a first-round playoff matchup with Mountain League champion Bishop Gorman.

“Last year as the four seed we had to face Gorman right out the chute, and that was a tough road to plow,” Smith said. “We’re hoping to get something other than the four seed and see what we do against another opponent.”

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