Lauria’s pitching boosts Legacy to baseball win
Legacy pitcher Joey Lauria said he's still rounding into shape after some shoulder soreness early in the season.
The UNLV signee looked pretty good Thursday.
Lauria threw a four-hitter to help the Longhorns to a 6-1 road victory over Cimarron-Memorial.
"I'm not 100 percent, I have to say, but I feel it coming back," Lauria said. "I'm just taking it one day at a time and getting stronger."
Lauria got stronger throughout the game after struggling a bit in the bottom of the first, when he allowed two hits, hit a batter and gave up an unearned run.
But Cimarron (8-6) managed just four baserunners the rest of the way. Two of Lauria's three strikeouts came in the seventh inning.
Legacy (8-8) scored three runs in the first to stake Lauria to an early lead.
"It was big," Legacy coach Bill Dexheimer said. "It's good to give our starting pitcher a little cushion. It gives him a little confidence and gives him a little leeway in making sure that he can go out and start challenging some hitters."
Said Lauria: "It was very nice. I like pitching with the lead."
Pierce Skinner led off the game with a single to left, and Andres Ortiz homered to left-center to make the score 2-0.
After Donald Glover doubled off the left-field fence, Lauria singled to right to make the score 3-0.
"Our offense needs to be more consistent," Dexheimer said. "We have innings where we do pretty well and put the ball in play. And then we have some innings where we make it a little too easy for the opposition."
Most of those good innings came with Ortiz at the plate. He was 3-for-3 with the homer, a triple, a double and a walk. He drove in three runs and scored three.
Lauria (two RBIs), Glover (one RBI) and Skinner (two runs) each went 2-for-4 for Legacy, which has rallied after dropping its first five games.
"We loaded up and played some tough teams early in the season," Dexheimer said. "It was good for our kids. It humbles them a little bit and gives them a good base to work off."
Legacy improved to 3-1 in the Northwest. The Longhorns are tied for fourth in the league but are only a game behind first-place Palo Verde (4-0).
The Longhorns are one of five teams in the Northwest with three or more league wins.
"I have a good feeling that we can win our conference and compete with anybody in town," Lauria said. "We hit the ball well. All we have to do is compete and play defense."
Contact Prep Sports Editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4587.
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THURSDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
BASEBALL
Canyon Springs’ Tahj Kehoe went 5-for-5 with a double and five RBIs in the Pioneers’ 14-3 victory at Sunrise Mountain.
Centennial’s Bryan Bonnell was 3-for-3 with a grand slam and five RBIs in the visiting Bulldogs’ 23-1 rout of Mojave.
Arbor View’s Tyler LeBaron went 5-for-5 with three RBIs and a run as the Aggies rallied past host Shadow Ridge, 13-10.
SOFTBALL
Durango’s Samantha Juarez was 3-for-4 with two triples, four runs and two RBIs as the visiting Trailblazers topped Desert Oasis, 15-8.
Las Vegas’ Ashly Westgarth doubled and scored on a passed ball in the seventh inning of the Wildcats’ 3-2 home victory over Valley.
Rancho’s Amber Marlett tossed a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts and was 2-for-4 with two runs in the Rams’ 5-1 win at Eldorado.
ON THE INTERNET: For complete coverage of Thursday’s baseball and softball games and other high school sports, go to nevadapreps.com.
