GRIZZLY INVITATIONAL: Bonanza ‘gamer’ walks tightrope in win

Too many base runners can give a baseball coach an ulcer.

But packing the bases didn’t seem to bother Bonanza pitcher Jay DeSoto on Monday.

DeSoto pitched out of bases-loaded jams in each of the first four innings to help the Bengals to an 11-1, six-inning win over host Spring Valley in the Grizzly Invitational.

“The kid’s a gamer,” Bonanza coach Mike O’Rourke said. “He’s our hardest practice player, and we have great, quality practices, and they all work hard. But Jay is just at another level when it comes to that stuff. And it translates to the games.”

DeSoto allowed an unearned run on six hits in a complete-game effort. He struck out seven, walked three and hit two batters.

While DeSoto managed to maintain a shutout despite allowing nine base runners in the first three innings, Spring Valley starter Jack Sellinger was mowing down Bonanza batters. He allowed a run on a two-out fielder’s choice by DeSoto in the top of the first, then struck out the next seven batters.

But he ran into trouble in the fourth after Eric Schultz lined a single to center to start the inning. A single by Torren Brozovich and a bunt single by Levi Klump loaded the bases, and Lucas Rosenblatt blooped a double to right to make the score 3-0.

A run scored on a wild pitch, and Chris Dunn added a two-run double to give the Bengals (5-4) a 6-0 lead.

“He made a couple mistakes,” O’Rourke said. “Schultz took advantage of a 3-1 pitch that got us rolling and then a couple other hard-hit balls. We squared some balls up, which is a good sign that we were able to make the adjustments. That’s the sign of being a good hitter is being able to adapt, especially facing a quality arm like that.”

Spring Valley (5-2) finally got to DeSoto in the fifth after two one-out errors and a hit batter loaded the bases. Bryce Bullock’s sacrifice fly made the score 6-1, and after a walk reloaded the bases, DeSoto got a groundout to end the inning.

Spring Valley stranded 14 runners. DeSoto’s only 1-2-3 inning came in the sixth when he got two strikeouts and a popup.

Schultz hit a solo homer in the fifth, and Dunn finished 2-for-3 with two doubles and two runs. Micah Higa went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and Brozovich was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI.

O’Rourke said it was especially important for his team to rebound after allowing four runs in the bottom of the seventh in a 6-5 loss to Coronado earlier Monday. Bonanza pitchers walked four and threw two wild pitches in the inning, and the winning run came home when Jake McLean was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

“Hat’s off to our kids for letting it go,” O’Rourke said. “That was a tough way to lose that first one this morning. And we were down, everybody. To bounce back the way we did is fantastic. I can’t be more pleased with the way our approach came around in the second game.”

Antony Vazquez went 2-for-4 with a double for Spring Valley.

Contact prep sports editor Damon Seiters at 702-380-4587 or dseiters@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DamonSeiters