Southern Nevada Blue Sox dominate in first day of American Legion region tournament

Every coach wants his team to get off to a hot start. But even Scott Baker of the Southern Nevada Blue Sox couldn’t have imagined his team’s start Wednesday in the opening game of the American Legion Western Regional.

Jesse Fontaboa and Jerry Smith led a first-inning charge as the Blue Sox sent 17 batters to the plate in a 12-hit, 14-run opening inning for a 30-5 rout of Grand Junction (Colorado) at Metro State University in Denver.

“It was crazy, I’ve only seen that happen a handful of times, to be honest,” Baker said. “Every ball we hit on the nose.”

The Blue Sox will play Chico (California) on Thursday. Chico won its opener 15-3 over League City (Texas).

John Howard Bobo started the game with a double, and four batters later Fontaboa blasted a three-run homer to right-center field. The Blue Sox scored three more runs before Jack Wold came to the plate with two outs and hit a ball to second. Just when Grand Junction thought it was out of the inning, an error allowed Wold to reach and another run score.

Then Smith unloaded the bases with the second home run of the inning. Some 20 minutes into the game, the the Blue Sox were ahead 14-0.

For good measure, the Blue Sox added three more runs in the second, then 11 in the third. They allowed five runs in the third inning, then scored two in the seventh.

Ryne Nelson was 6-for-6 with five RBIs and four runs scored for the Blue Sox, and Bobo scored six times.

“I didn’t know even he was 6-for-6 honestly until someone came up to me and told me,” Baker said. “It was such a barrage I kind of lost count.”

Contact Justin Emerson at jemerson@reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2944. Follow @J15Emerson on Twitter.