Reliever saves day for Coronado

With his Coronado baseball squad against the ropes in the sixth inning Thursday, relief pitcher Evan Fresquez used the same mentality he always does when his number is called.

“What I do is bear down,” Fresquez said. “My adrenaline is pumping, and I just have to go in there and get the job done. No matter what the situation is.”

Fresquez escaped a no-out, bases-loaded jam to help the Cougars eliminate Rancho with a 5-1 win in the losers’ bracket final of the Sunrise Region tournament at Las Vegas High.

Coronado (30-3), which ousted Green Valley 2-1 in eight innings earlier in the day, will face Liberty at 1 p.m. today at Las Vegas. Should the Cougars win, a second game will be played at 4 p.m. to determine the region champion.

“We put ourselves against the wall three days ago by dropping the first one,” Coronado coach David Padilla said of a loss to Rancho on Monday. “The kids battled back. We played a tough one against Las Vegas.

“Yesterday, our bats woke up. Today, they were silent during that whole first game, but we answered back.”

Holding a four-run lead in the top of the sixth, Fresquez came in for Jackson Cofer with runners on first and second and none out. After hitting Rancho’s Cody Suarez on his second pitch out of the bullpen to load the bases, the senior went to work.

Fresquez struck out Andrew Wieger on eight pitches, then induced a sharp ground ball up the middle that was tracked down by Coronado’s Tyler Brown. The second baseman flipped the ball with his glove to Cain Brady, who made a flawless turn to first to complete the inning-ending double play.

Fresquez “came in and did what he does,” Padilla said. “He’s our closer. He came in and threw strikes, gave us the opportunity, and left the bases loaded. That was absolutely huge for us.”

The Cougars overcame a 1-0 deficit in the second with solo home runs from Julian Burrola and Michael Pollex. Coronado added three more runs in the fourth with RBI singles from Brady, Brown and Michael Maiello. Pollex and Brady each went 2-for-3.

In the first game Thursday, Chandler Blanchard’s single into right field with one out in the top of the eighth scored Brown to push the Cougars past the Gators. Brady singled home Miles Bice with two outs to tie the game in the seventh.

SUNSET REGION

Bishop Gorman pitched its way to one win and bashed its way to another as the Gaels staved off elimination at Sierra Vista.

Alex Perron fired a three-hitter in a 5-0 win over Shadow Ridge, and the Gaels came back and had 13 hits, including four for extra bases, in a 16-7 win over Cimarron-Memorial in the losers’ bracket final.

Gorman will face Bonanza at 1 p.m. today at Sierra Vista. The Gaels need to beat Bonanza twice to claim the region title.

“These type of tournaments kind of work in our favor a little bit,” Gorman coach Nick Day said. “I wouldn’t go out there and say we have the best pitching staff, but we have one of the deepest pitching staffs. And when you go late in a tournament like this where you’re playing every day, it kind of works to our advantage where some guys down on our depth chart are actually pretty good.”

Perron certainly was pretty good against Shadow Ridge. The lanky sophomore allowed just three singles and struck out six in silencing the Northwest League champions in the opener.

“He was outstanding,” Day said. “He’s just a sophomore, and he’s been good every time we’ve thrown him out on the mound this year. He just came out and attacked the strike zone. He throws pretty hard for being 100 pounds or whatever he is.”

Nick Gates was 3-for-4 with a homer and four RBIs in the second game. Cadyn Grenier was 2-for-4 with a triple and four RBIs, and Cole Krzmarzick doubled twice for the Gaels.

DIVISION I-A SOUTHERN REGION

Tanner Howell tossed a two-hitter and struck out eight in just five innings as Boulder City defeated Moapa Valley 12-1 at Faith Lutheran to advance to the title game.

The Eagles (22-8) will meet tourney host Faith Lutheran at 4 p.m. today in the regional final. If Boulder City wins the first game, a second game will follow.

Howell drove in three runs for Boulder City, and Peyton Koopman and Austin Wichard each added two RBIs.

Earlier Thursday, Moapa Valley took advantage of a key error in a three-run fifth inning to eliminate Chaparral 6-1 to advance to play Boulder City.

DIVISION III SOUTHERN LEAGUE

Jordan Shepard tossed a two-hitter and struck out 14 to lead Laughlin to a 4-1 win over The Meadows in an opening-round game at Mountain View.

Shepard struck out eight of the first nine batters he faced before allowing a walk and a single in the fourth.