REGION BASEBALL: Clutch homer lifts Gators to Sunrise finals

Green Valley's baseball team was two outs from the end of its season Thursday.

Then Alec Hutt extended it with one swing of the bat.

Hutt smacked a three-run homer with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Gators a 6-4 win over Coronado in the Sunrise Region baseball tournament at Las Vegas High.

"He hasn't been swinging the bat well the last couple days," Green Valley coach Matt Stoner said. "And he just put a big swing on it in a pressure situation. That's all you can ask for."

The Gators (30-6) will face Rancho (30-4) at 1 p.m. today at Las Vegas. If Green Valley wins, a second game would be played to determine the Sunrise champion.

The region champion advances to next week's Class 4A state tournament. The runner-up will face the Sunset Region runner-up at 11 a.m. Saturday, with the winner claiming the final state berth.

The Gators trailed 4-2 going into the bottom of the seventh but had the top of the order coming up.

Evan Van Hoosier led off with an infield single. After a popout, Brett Harrison singled up the middle to put runners on the corners.

Chad Whiteaker then hit a ball back toward the middle. It deflected off the pitcher's glove right to second baseman Ryan Donahue, but he couldn't handle it cleanly.

Van Hoosier scored on the play, and runners were at first and second for Hutt, who deposited a 2-and-1 pitch over the left-field fence to end the game. Hutt had one hit in his previous 10 at-bats.

"The seniors wanted it so bad, and it just feels good to give them that," said Hutt, a junior first baseman.

Hutt said the Gators had confidence they could rally with the top of the order coming up.

"Evan Van Hoosier, that kid is the best leadoff hitter in the state," Hutt said. "I knew he was going to get on. And our first five hitters, I'd put them up against the best in the state."

Van Hoosier was 3-for-3, including a solo home run leading off the bottom of the first.

James Durbin pitched the distance, allowing two earned runs on seven hits, to get the win. Durbin had thrown an inning to pick up a save in Green Valley's first game Thursday.

"James, he wasn't really a starter. He was mainly our closer kind of guy," Hutt said. "To have him come in was huge. He was pretty much our only arm left."

Durbin struck out six and walked two.

"We thought we were going to score a little bit more than that and take a little pressure off him, but he pitched great," Stoner said.

Taylor Giordano had a two-run homer and Chris Blake went 2-for-4 with an RBI for Coronado, which finished 21-12.

Hutt said Green Valley is looking to surprise Rancho and that knowing the season won't end today eases the pressure.

"We already lost to Rancho. They're probably thinking they've got it in the bag," Hutt said. "We're going to come out and hopefully compete. That's all we can ask to do. And if we fall short, we've got a game on Saturday."

■ Green Valley 7, Liberty 6 -- Van Hoosier went 2-for-3 with three runs and an RBI and Harrison was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs as the Gators held on to eliminate the Patriots (19-10-1).

Liberty scored three runs in the top of the sixth to pull within 7-5, but a stellar defensive play by sophomore shortstop Braden Rogers cut short the rally.

The Patriots had scored two runs and had runners on first and second when Danny Topps laced a line drive toward left field.

Rogers made a diving catch of the liner and fired to second to complete a double play to help preserve the lead.

Liberty scored a run in the seventh on an RBI double by Chris Bradford, but Durbin got Nate Bennett to fly out to right and struck out Anthony Rush to end the game.

Teddy Efthemeou homered for Liberty, which left nine runners on base.

SUNSET REGION

Jake Hager was mired in a hitting slump for the first three games of the Sunset Region playoffs.

Sierra Vista's all-state shortstop broke out of it at the perfect time.

Hager went 4-for-5 with two home runs and five RBIs to lead the Mountain Lions to a 22-1 rout of visiting Desert Oasis in five innings in the losers' bracket final of the Sunset tournament.

"I'd been struggling the past three games," Hager said. "It feels great to come out and swing the bat well. I didn't want our season to end."

Sierra Vista (34-3) will host Southwest League nemesis Bishop Gorman (31-4) in the Sunset finals at 1 p.m. today. The Mountain Lions would have to win twice to take the region title.

Hager, Sierra Vista's senior leadoff hitter, went 0-for-10 in the first three games of the tournament. But the Arizona State signee was back to his usual form Thursday, hitting a three-run homer as part of a 12-run third inning before adding a two-run blast in the fourth.

"He's got to play well for us to win. It was nice to get him going," Mountain Lions coach Nate Selby said of Hager, who scored four runs.

Hager had plenty of help, as teammates Conner Klein, Scott Tomassetti and Alex Estrella each had two hits, two RBIs and three runs.

Sierra Vista batted around in the second and third innings, sending 17 batters to the plate in the third.

Starter Dusty Stevens tossed three scoreless innings to get the win, allowing two hits without a walk and striking out two.

"We have been very fortunate this year to have some pitching depth," Selby said. "We've still got some arms, and we'll make a run at it and see how we can do."

Desert Oasis (21-12) enjoyed a breakout season that culminated in its first playoff appearance. But the Diamondbacks hurt themselves with five errors against Sierra Vista, including three in the ugly third inning.

Riley Smith doubled and scored on a Kyle Motis single in the fifth for the Diamondbacks.

■ Desert Oasis 8, Faith Lutheran 7 -- Joe Paratore led off the top of the sixth with a home run to left field to break a 7-7 tie and help the Diamondbacks eliminate the Crusaders (17-17).

Desert Oasis' Zane Killebrew went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI and pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief to get the win.

Mike Maiello hit a three-run homer in the third inning for Desert Oasis.

Blake Matthias went 3-for-4 with a home run, a triple, two runs and two RBIs to lead Faith Lutheran. Brendan Meyer was 2-for-3 with a double for the Crusaders, and Caleb Summerhays added a three-run homer in the fourth.