Faranda turning Chaparral baseball into winning outfit
Chaparral baseball coach Todd Faranda learned the game under two of the best high school coaches to come through Southern Nevada.
Now he's trying to impart that knowledge to the Cowboys.
And in his second season at the helm, Faranda appears to have the Cowboys in position to make a run at a playoff berth. Chaparral downed visiting Desert Pines 12-0 on Thursday to improve to 7-2.
Faranda, a 1999 Bishop Gorman graduate, played for current College of Southern Nevada coach Tim Chambers at Gorman.
He also spent two seasons at Green Valley, where he played for legendary coach Rodger Fairless.
"My standards -- I have a CSN mentality, a Green Valley mentality -- so they know they have to bring it," Faranda said.
On Thursday, the Cowboys used a patient approach to beat the Jaguars. Chaparral drew nine walks in the five-inning game.
"We need to just sit back and be patient and answer whenever the time comes," Faranda said. "At times we do, but we're still not consistently doing it like my expectations are."
Center fielder Ricky Perez answered the call in the third, highlighting a six-run inning by crushing a grand slam over the center-field fence.
"Perez came up with the big grand slam, which was nice," Faranda said. "I honestly still was not proud of this performance. We got on base with walks."
Chaparral drew four walks in the third, including two with the bases loaded. Perez's homer was the only hit in the inning.
In fact, the Cowboys had just three hits in the game. Raul Jimenez delivered an RBI double in the first, and Joel Benavides singled in the fourth.
The three hits were more than enough for Jakob Dahlman, who fired a one-hitter and struck out seven to pick up the win.
Faranda isn't alone in trying to turn the program around. He is joined by experienced assistant coaches, including former Chaparral head coach and CSN assistant Rich Ebarb.
"I'm trying to put good people around these boys so they can learn what a winning mentality is again," Faranda said. "That's the key. I think it's kind of fallen through the cracks at Chaparral."
Contact Prep Sports Editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4587.
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THURSDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS
BASEBALL
• Las Vegas High's Trevor Lowe threw a five-hit shutout as the Wildcats earned a 5-1 road victory over Valley.
• Durango's Danny Reynolds went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs as the Trailblazers beat visiting Pahrump Valley, 10-3.
• Bonanza's Heriberto Orozco was 4-for-4 with two triples and seven RBIs as the Bengals beat host Western, 24-1.
SOFTBALL
• Valley's Jasmine Villamar drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth inning to force in Zoe Galindo with the winning run in the Vikings' 2-1 home victory over Las Vegas.
• Eldorado's Taylor Schroeder tripled and continued home on a throwing error in the top of the seventh inning to lift the visiting Sundevils past Rancho, 4-3.
• Desert Oasis' Ashley Leidenheimer's sixth-inning squeeze bunt scored Nicole Liakos with the decisive run in the Diamondbacks' 3-2 home win over Sierra Vista.
