Silverado rallies to victory

Sometimes a single swing can change the course of a game. Silverado's Pierce Belaustegui proved that Wednesday at the American Legion state baseball tournament.

Belaustegui blasted a solo home run leading off the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the game at 5. The shot seemed to ignite his team, as the Skyhawks rallied to a 13-5 win over Green Valley in an elimination game.

"A leadoff home run, it's not just the first inning," Silverado coach Brian Whitaker said. "It's kind of nice when the first batter gets up there and drives the baseball out of the park. Everybody else seems to get a little energy out of that."

Belaustegui's shot started a surge for Silverado, which scored eight runs on seven hits over the next three innings.

The Skyhawks (19-15) play Coronado (19-9) at 8 p.m. today. If Silverado wins, the teams would meet again Friday, with the winner advancing to Saturday's championship game.

Silverado's Justin Rainville opened the sixth with a single and scored one out later when Green Valley made two errors on the same play. Adam Koglin then hit an RBI single to make it 7-5.

In the seventh, Braden Keathley and Rainville had RBI singles. The Skyhawks got RBI doubles by Dillon Smith, Trevor Kirk and Keathley in the eighth.

"We had some pretty good at-bats," said Whitaker, whose team rapped 15 hits.

Keathley was 3-for-5 with four RBIs and two runs, and Belaustegui was 3-for-4 with three runs.

Cody Bostick pitched five innings of shutout relief to pick up the win. He allowed five hits, all singles.

Nick Melino and Mark Johnson each went 4-for-4 for Green Valley (18-19).

• Durango 8, Spring Valley 4 -- The seventh-seeded Trailblazers used a five-run fifth inning to oust the second-seeded Grizzlies (26-15).

Durango (40-35) had RBI singles by Michael Stiles and Josh Damewood and a sacrifice fly by Alex Petrosie to key the big inning.

Justin Loya was 3-for-4 for Durango, which had 13 hits. Stiles and Brad Johnson each added two hits, and Damewood drove in three runs.

Durango plays Bishop Gorman (53-20) at 5 tonight. If the Trailblazers beat Gorman, the teams would meet again Friday with the winner moving to the championship game.

Billy Bob Ward drove in two runs for the Grizzlies.