I-A BASEBALL: Hubel pitches Boulder City into title game

Numerous Major League Baseball scouts were on hand Thursday to watch Faith Lutheran pitcher Zack Trageton throw against Boulder City in the winners bracket final of the Division I-A Southern Region tournament.

They left with the name of another pitcher on their radar.

Boulder City right-hander Jacob Hubel allowed three runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out four over seven innings as the Eagles shocked the defending region champions, 4-3. Hubel only needed 79 pitches to dispatch the Crusaders. He threw 52 strikes and 27 balls.

Trageton went the distance, allowing six hits with seven strikeouts in the loss. He threw 107 pitches: 70 strikes and 37 balls.

“I’ve been lucky enough to coach him since he was 12,” Boulder City head coach Bobby Reese said. “Me and his dad were coaching him when we were playing Paseo Verde Little League. We should have been getting our butt kicked, but we (were) up 4-3 just like this. I took him out, and it didn’t work out. We always said we should have let him stay in.

“I told Jacob that I screwed up when he was 12, but win or lose, he was going to throw the whole game. He did what I thought he would do. He competed, he battled and he nibbled. All them scouts need to know his name is Jacob Hubel. I’m very, very proud of him.”

Faith Lutheran (23-9) jumped out to 2-0 first-inning lead on Jake Ortega’s two-run single.

The Eagles (24-7) cut the lead to 2-1 in the top of the second inning on a sacrifice by Steve Wagner. In the top of the third inning, Boulder City took advantage of two walks to start the inning. With the bases loaded, Peyton Koopman singled to tie the score. With the bases still loaded and two outs, Kodey Rahr singled to give the Eagles a 3-2 lead. Austin Wishard scored later on a wild pitch to push the lead to 4-2.

The Crusaders would cut the deficit to 4-3 on a sacrifice fly by Trageton in the bottom of the third inning. After that inning, Hubel settled down and only allowed two hits over the final four innings. He did get into trouble in the seventh, but with the tying run on third, he got Josh Harmonay to pop out to first base.

The win sends the Eagles into the state tournament in Reno. They will play for the region title at noon Saturday. Sierra Vista (17-17) plays Tech (14-17) at 4 p.m. on Friday, with the winner facing Faith Lutheran at 7 p.m. for a spot in the region title game and a berth at state.

The day off is strange for Reese, who has never had a bye in the I-A Southern tournament.

“This is the third time I’ve been in this state tournament in this new format with 580 kids playing schools with 1,800, and it’s tough for us little guys,” Reese said. “To be honest, I don’t know what we’ll do (Friday). The thought has never crossed my mind. Just like after we won (Wednesday) night, I had no idea what time we were supposed to play. I had no idea. We just needed to try to get to Reno and now lets see what we can do.”

Sierra Vista 11, Spring Valley 1 — At Spring Valley, Cooper Kitrel was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs, and Kaui Kaleopaa went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs to power the Mountain Lions to a win over the Grizzlies in five innings.

Ryan Carroll had three hits, and teammate DaVion Hollis finished 2-for-3 with an RBI for Sierra Vista. Jhared Gonzalez struck out five over four innings to get the win.

Bryce Bullock went 2-for-3 with an RBI double that scored Nick Rupp for Spring Valley’s lone run. The Grizzlies finished (21-10)

Tech 12, Chaparral 6 – At Boulder City, Alexis Acosta went 2-for-4 with a double, three RBIs and two run scored to lead the Roadrunners past the Cowboys in an elimination game.

Sean Jones went 2-for-2 with a two-run homer to cap off an eight-run sixth inning. Jones also scored two runs.

Trevor Kephart, Jalen Birch and Logan Campbell also doubled for the Roadrunners, who finished the game with 11 hits.

Robert O’Connor went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored to lead the Cowboys (20-10).