Coronado rides Myers into Sunrise baseball final

Coronado pitcher Dylan Myers dug himself a bit of a hole in the first inning Thursday, allowing Silverado to score three runs.

But that was all the junior right-hander gave up, and the Cougars chipped away at the deficit before scoring four runs in the seventh to defeat the Skyhawks 7-3 in the winners' bracket championship of the Sunrise Region baseball tournament at Green Valley.

"I was just rushing and probably trying to do too much," Myers said of the first inning. "That happens to me sometimes, but I settled in."

The win propelled Coronado (26-8) into Saturday's Sunrise final. Rancho (20-13) plays Green Valley (19-15) at 1 p.m. today, with Silverado (23-9-1) meeting the winner at 4 p.m. for the right to face Coronado. The Cougars would have to lose twice Saturday to not win the double-elimination tournament.

Myers allowed two earned runs on five hits in six innings to improve to 9-0. He struck out three, walked none and threw 78 pitches, 57 for strikes.

"I just worked on my mechanics and figured out what I was doing wrong," Myers said. "I knew my teammates would pull behind me and score me some runs. They've been doing that all year, and I knew my defense would back me up.

"And I just had faith in myself and my team, because I know what we can do. We can do a lot of special things."

The Cougars scored single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings to tie the game, then broke it open with four unearned runs in the seventh.

"We had good innings and put people on base," Coronado coach David Padilla said. "We just tried to get on base, move him over and then score him. We did that for our first three runs. There was no big stuff today, but we did the little things."

James Anderson led off the top of the seventh with a single, and was lifted for pinch runner Brad Fogal. Mike Meyers replaced Silverado starter Bryan Faucher on the mound and got Cody Howard to hit a grounder to first. But Faucher, who had thrown 111 pitches, threw wildly to second, putting runners at second and third.

After a strikeout and an intentional walk, Miles Bice grounded the ball to Faucher at first. Faucher tried to get an inning-ending double play, stepping on first and firing to the plate, but Fogal beat the throw for the go-ahead run.

Kaleb Blyton was 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs, and Dillon Fahr and Anderson each added two hits for Coronado.

Faucher hit a two-run home run for Silverado.

■ Green Valley 10, Foothill 9 - Derrick Harmon's two-out RBI single to right field in the bottom of the seventh knocked in Evan Van Hoosier with the winning run, eliminating the Falcons (20-13).

Harmon was 3-for-4, and had an RBI single in the fifth that gave the Gators a 9-8 lead.

Alec Hutt, who was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, pitched two solid innings of relief to get the win. He threw 79 pitches in a start Tuesday.

Tyler Morris went 2-for-4 with a home run, a double, three runs and three RBIs for Foothill.

■ Rancho 10, Las Vegas 6 - The Rams took advantage of six errors to score seven unearned runs and eliminate the Wildcats (19-12-1).

Matt Almodover was 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs, and David Modler went 3-for-4 with a double and three runs for Rancho, which trailed 5-0 after one inning.

Nick Chavez added two hits and three RBIs for the Rams.

Dustin Cash was 2-for-3 with two RBIs for Las Vegas.

SUNSET REGION

Three batters after Evan McMahan gave Arbor View a 10-4 lead with a solo home run, Ryan Chen, P.J. Gonzalez and Nate Stepna hit consecutive homers to left field. The Aggies rode the six-run third inning to a 16-6, five-inning rout of Durango in the Sunset Region winners' bracket final at Centennial.

"That just kind of put us over the top right there," Arbor View coach Chris Martinez said. "Just an amazing job by our 5-6-7 hitters getting the ball up, zone hitting and hitting the ball out of the yard."

Arbor View (32-4) advanced to the region final at 1 p.m. Saturday at Centennial. The Aggies could play Durango (17-19), Centennial (24-10-1) or Bishop Gorman (32-3) in the final, and would have to lose twice to not win their first region title.

"It's exciting for the school. It's exciting for these 18 kids," Martinez said. "This has been their goal since day one. We've just got to refocus, go back to work, and go get one Saturday one way or another."

Gonzalez said the Aggies were confident coming off a 9-8 win over Gorman on Wednesday. It showed, as Arbor View pounded four Durango pitchers for 15 hits.

Chen's two-run blast in the third was followed by homers by Gonzalez and Stepna to give the Aggies a 14-4 lead.

Arbor View leadoff hitter Jordan Godman went 4-for-5 with two doubles, two runs and a stolen base. His RBI double scored pinch runner Joey Comish to end the game in the bottom of the fifth.

"(Godman) has seen the ball so extremely well all year," Martinez said. "He struggled a little bit as a junior, but it just showed how hard he's worked in the offseason to get to where he's at."

McMahan was 3-for-4 with a double and three runs for Arbor View, and Gonzalez went 2-for-3 with a triple, three runs and four RBIs.

"We have nine confident guys whoever we put in the lineup," Martinez said.

Durango's Jacob Dismont went 3-for-3 with five RBIs, including a two-run double to left field in the third.

Bobby Wright went 3-for-3 with a walk and scored three runs for Durango, which will play Centennial or Gorman in an elimination game at 4 p.m. today at Centennial.

■ Centennial 3, Sierra Vista 2 - Pinch runner Trent Kennedy scored on a throwing error in the top of the sixth to break a 2-2 tie and help the Bulldogs oust the Mountain Lions (23-12).

Bryan Bonnell pitched a four-hitter with one walk and eight strikeouts for Centennial, which will host Gorman in an elimination game at 1 p.m. today.

Michael Yenkowski was 2-for-3 for Centennial, including a single to center to lead off the top of the sixth before being replaced by Kennedy.

Keith Krueger went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI for Centennial, and Jonas Wellan had an RBI double and scored a run.

Daniel Gonzales and Tyler Burdett had RBI singles in the fourth inning for Sierra Vista.

■ Bishop Gorman 5, Spring Valley 2 - Jerrel Latham and Cody Roper slugged back-to-back homers in the fourth to help the Gaels eliminate the Grizzlies (22-10-1).

Latham's two-run blast to right-center field was followed by Roper's shot to left to give the Gaels a 4-0 lead. Latham went 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.

Drew LaComb had two doubles for Spring Valley, which scored on a wild pitch in the sixth and an error in the seventh. Robby Brewster went 2-for-3 with a double, and Cody Smith was 2-for-3 for the Grizzlies.