Faith Lutheran to play Churchill County for Division I-A state baseball crown

Elko jumped ahead of Faith Lutheran in the top of the first inning Friday in the Division I-A state baseball tournament at Durango.

Greg Sylvester and the Crusaders wasted no time retaking the momentum.

Sylvester put his stamp on the game in the bottom of the first with a two-out, three-run homer to left field to put Faith Lutheran on top, and the Crusaders held on for a 12-5 win over the Indians.

The victory moves Faith Lutheran (30-7) into the championship round, where it will face Churchill County (25-10) at 10 a.m. today at Las Vegas High. The Crusaders would have to win twice to claim their third consecutive state title.

“It feels good to get back into it,” Sylvester said. “This is the group that can come back and win two (games).”

Elko struck first when Jacob Conklin walked with the bases loaded to force in a run, but Cruz Daddario struck out the next two batters with the bases loaded to keep the Indians from increasing their lead.

Sylvester then drove the first pitch he saw over the fence in left, and the Crusaders wouldn’t trail again.

“It felt pretty good to get the team back on top,” Sylvester said. “And I felt like we kept it going from there.”

Faith Lutheran scored four runs in the second inning to pull away on RBI singles by Brandon Davis and Blake Giuliani and a pair of RBI groundouts.

Sylvester was 2-for-3 with four RBIs to lead the 12-hit attack for Faith Lutheran.

Alex Giuliani was 2-for-3 with a double, two runs and an RBI, and Blake Giuliani went 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Crusaders.

■ Elko 7, Boulder City 6 — Schofield’s two-run homer to left field with one out in the bottom of the seventh ended the season for the Eagles.

R.J. Bejarano led off the bottom of the seventh with a single up the middle for the Indians to chase Wagner, who allowed 11 hits in six innings of work.

Murphy came on to pitch and got a fly ball before Schofield ripped a 3-and-2 pitch over the fence in left to end the game.

Murphy went 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, and Preston Van Diest was 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI for Boulder City (24-13).

Division III

Needles coach Ken Parker hoped the momentum from a win earlier in the day would ignite his Mustangs on Friday.

As it turned out, nothing would stop the potent Yerington offense.

Yerington sent 12 batters to the plate in the top of the third inning and used four hits, four walks and a catcher’s interference to score seven runs en route to a 13-4 win over the Lions in the losers’ bracket final of the Division III state tournament at The Meadows.

Yerington (22-11) meets Incline (21-6) at 9 a.m. today at Durango for the state championship. Should the Lions win, a second game will be played afterward.

George Clark threw a seven-hitter and struck out two for the Lions. Teammate Austin Shlegelmich was 2-for-3 with a double, three RBIs and three runs scored.

Trenton Poe-Evans went 2-for-3 with two runs scored for Needles.

■ Needles 6, Lincoln County 5 — The Mustangs took advantage of six Lincoln County errors to eliminate the Lynx.

Paget went 3-for-5 with a run scored for Needles, and Poe-Evans was 2-for-5 with a run.

Preston Robbins was 2-for-3 to lead Lincoln County (20-8).

■ Incline 7, Yerington 3 — The Highlanders grabbed an early 6-2 lead before downing the Lions earlier in the day.

Thomas Thompson struck out nine in a complete game for Incline.

Tristan Summers went 2-for-4 with two runs scored for the Highlanders.

Division IV

Pahranagat Valley had only lost two games all season — both to higher-division opponents — before the start of the Division IV state tournament.

The Panthers, in uncharacteristic fashion, dropped two heartbreakers on Friday to end their season.

After losing a one-run lead in the top of the seventh inning to Virginia City to start the day, the Panthers found themselves on the wrong side of a pitcher’s duel in a 4-2 loss to Whittel in the afternoon in the double-elimination tournament at Mountain View.

The Panthers (21-4) were two outs away from reaching the state championship, unbeaten, in their first game with Virginia City on Friday but surrendered a six-run inning to lose in ugly fashion. Carlos Robledo hit a grand slam to insure the win for the Muckers.

In the second game, Whittel’s Colton Ruby struck out six in a complete-game five-hitter to shut down the Panthers.

Pahranagat Valley led early in the game, when Christian Higbee hit an RBI double to score Paden Higbee in the bottom of the first inning. But the Warriors answered with two runs of their own in the third to take control.

Troy Libert drew a one-out walk to start the inning and advanced to second base on a single by Jacob Sharp before scoring on an RBI single by Nicholaus Buchholz.

Sharp, who finished 2-for-4, came around to score on an RBI double by Peyton Galli, and the Warriors would not trail again.

Wade Leavitt struck out 12 in a complete game for the Panthers, who got two hits apiece from Paden Higbee and Brandon Burris.

■ Whittel 7, Tonopah 6 — Ian Guthridge pitched a complete game and went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI, but the Muckers fell to the Warriors in an elimination game.

Connor Friel added a triple, two runs and an RBI, and David Ramsey was 2-for-3 with a double for the Muckers (17-10), who led 6-3 after the top of the seventh inning.