Green Valley answers rally, wins sixth straight

Green Valley’s baseball team might want to consider carrying a magician’s hat to games.

The Gators are becoming wizards at pulling out narrow wins, sometimes in mystical ways.

The latest example came Wednesday, when Green Valley allowed three unearned runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and then scored the winning run on a double error and a wild pitch in the eighth inning of a 7-6 victory at Rancho.

“We’re absolutely finding ways to not lose games,” said Green Valley coach Corey Gehlken, whose team has won six straight. “That’s what happens when you have more of an inexperienced team that we expected to have. We’re just riding with what we have. It was a total team effort.”

Jarrett Perns led off the eighth with a ground ball that was misplayed by Rancho’s shortstop and then bobbled by the left fielder, allowing Perns to reach second.

A one-out flyout by Troy Cropper moved Perns to third, and after a walk to Derrick Harmon, Perns scampered home when an 0-and-2 pitch to Ty Burger skipped to the backstop.

The Gators (15-7, 4-0 Northeast League) appeared to be cruising to a victory when they carried a 5-1 lead into the sixth, but a two-run double by Braulio Santiaguin brought the Rams (15-7, 2-2) within two runs.

The Gators got a run back on Anthony Hatch’s pinch-hit RBI single before the Rams rallied to force the extra inning.

Eric Allen reached on a fielding error and moved to third on Jose Verdugo’s screaming liner that nicked off Green Valley reliever Quinton Kohorst’s left shoulder.

Kohorst, who looked sharp in retiring three straight in the sixth inning, wasn’t the same after the line drive. “I think that affected him a little more than he let on,” Gehlken said.

Keifer McLendon singled home one run, another scored on a double-play grounder, and Chris Fitzpatrick drove in the tying run with a two-out hit. McLendon was 4-for-4 with two RBIs for Rancho.