58°F
weather icon Mostly Clear

Aces rally to top Blue Sox, move into American Legion title game

After falling behind 2-0 in the first inning Friday in the American Legion State Tournament at Durango, the second-seeded Las Vegas Aces appeared flat and out of sorts, while the third-seeded Southern Nevada Blue Sox looked poised.

Aces coach Paul Buboltz brought it up in the dugout and his players continuously assured him they had everything in control, and would strike at the right time. That time turned out to be the bottom of the eighth.

Bryson Stott and Alex Tafesh homered in a four-run eighth as the Aces beat the Blue Sox 6-2 to advance to the tournament's championship game.

"They came in after the first inning and I got on them about being flat," Buboltz said. "But once they told me they had it I believed them. We've been doing this all summer, and they've really played well as a team. Once they assured me they would take care of it, I just let them play their game."

Aces leadoff hitter Stott delivered Trever Berg's fastball over the right-field fence with one out to put his team ahead 3-2. Four batters later, Alex Tafesh went the other way, crushing the first pitch he saw for a three-run shot over the left-field fence and the Aces went on to eliminate the Blue Sox.

Stott finished 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs, and Tafesh was 2-for-4 with a run and three RBIs.

Aces starter Chris Van Kuren (3-1) got the victory after scattering six hits over eight innings, while striking out three. Reliever Chase Adams threw a scoeless ninth to get the save.

"Van Kuren has been our big-game pitcher," said Buboltz, whose Aces hail from Desert Oasis High. "When I decided to start him, I knew he'd give us a gutsy performance."

The hard-throwing, lanky right-hander settled down nicely after allowing the first-inning runs, and pitched his way out of bases-loaded jam in the third inning, which seemed to deflate the Blue Sox at that point. Van Kuren shut Basic High's legion entry down, retiring 17 of the last 19 batters he faced. The Blue Sox managed just four hits after the first inning.

"The big inning for us was getting out of the bases-loaded situation," Buboltz said. "That game could have gotten away from us with a couple hits right there."

Blue Sox reliever Berg, who came on in the fourth, pitched well, retiring 13 of the first 14 batters he faced.

But after getting Cole Schaefer to ground out to lead off the bottom of the eighth, Stott waited patiently through a pair of off-speed pitches, and drilled Berg's 1-1 fastball out of the park.

"We were hitting the ball hard the whole game, they just weren't really finding holes," Stott said. "I took a couple of changes because I kind of knew he was going to throw the fastball, he'd been doing that all game."

Kyle Fuentes grounded out to shortstop after Stott's home run, but then Van Kuren got all the way to second base on an error. Dominic Paratore was intentionally walked, to bring up Tafesh.

"He had been chomping at the bit to get back this summer and get into this spot that we're in. His goal was to get into the state championship with a chance to win it," Buboltz said. "And since it was the first time anyone has ever intentionally walked a batter to get to him, I think it just motivated him to try to prove what he can do."

The Aces advance to the championship game at 7 p.m. on Saturday against the Las Vegas Knights.

Las Vegas Knights I 15, Las Vegas Knights II 9 Beau Capanna went 2-for-4 with four RBIs and three runs, and Nicholas Israel and Andrew Newson each had three hits to lead the Bishop Gorman-packed squad.

With Knights I holding a 4-3 lead, Capanna blasted a two-run home run to spark a six-run fourth inning, putting them ahead, 10-3. The Knights II made it interesting late, with five runs in the top of the eighth, but the Knights I answered four in their half of the eighth to seal the win..

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST