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A.J. Amelburu, Green Valley Elite stay alive with Connie Mack win

Green Valley Elite baseball coach Corey Gehlken asked his players for some intensity as he prepared to send them onto the field Thursday.

His squad responded with three innings of intense baseball before fizzling, and that wound up being enough for a win.

A.J. Amelburu went 3-for-4 to help the Elite get a 7-2 victory over the Las Vegas Grizzlies in an elimination game in the Connie Mack state baseball tournament at the College of Southern Nevada.

With the win, Green Valley moved into Friday’s losers’ bracket semifinal. The Elite will play the Las Vegas Cats at 5 p.m., with the winner of that game to play the Southern Nevada Falcons at 8 p.m.

Green Valley established the tempo early with four runs on three hits in the first inning, then chased Las Vegas starter Braxton Bruschke in the second with two more runs to go ahead 6-0. Both runs were walked in, one by Bruschke and one by reliever Jaxson Otis.

Considering his squad’s lethargic play in Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to the Southern Nevada Falcons, Gehlken was pleased with the fast start.

“It makes you feel a little better,” he said. “But as the game went on, there was a lack of focus and a lack of intensity.”

The Green Valley offense put one more run on the board in the third before going dormant. That left the lead in the hands of starter Jake Empey, who proceeded to toss six strong innings. He scattered six hits, while striking out three.

“Jake’s one of our guys,” Gehlken said. “The best thing he did today was when he needed to make a big pitch, he made it happen.”

Otis settled down after the third, and the Grizzlies rallied for two runs in a sixth inning — one coming on an RBI single by Jake Sellinger.

But Elite reliever Brandon Bayne came in to shut Las Vegas down in the seventh.

Despite his team’s late offensive troubles, Gehlken said Amelburu was the key to his offense.

“He’s a good hitter,” Gehlken said. “We moved him into the leadoff spot today and he did a good job there.”

Las Vegas Cats 4, Las Vegas Crusaders 3 — Nate Freimuth’s two-run double in the fifth inning helped seal a win for the Cats as they edged the Crusaders in an elimination game.

Starter Brando Culmo scattered five hits over five scoreless innings to earn the victory for the Cats.

David Campbell went 2-for-3 for the Cats, who took control early with a run in the first inning and another in the third.

Brayden Palluck had three hits to lead the Crusaders, who fell just short with a three-run rally in the seventh. Teammates Liam Bredin and Jake Ortega each had an RBI in the inning.

Summerlin Panthers 14, Southern Nevada Falcons 7 — Chandler Kochan went 3-for-3 with a double, two walks and five RBIs to help the Panthers defeat the Falcons in the winners’ bracket final.

Summerlin compiled six runs in the first two innings and led 11-0, until a pair of Panthers errors ignited a six-run rally for the Falcons in the fifth.

Scotty Crosby went 4-for-4 with a double and a triple to help the Panthers, who scored three insurance runs in the seventh inning. Teammate Nick Zuppas added three hits to the 17-hit attack.

Anthony Pannullo and Ben Gonzalez had two hits apiece to lead Southern Nevada.

The victory lifted Summerlin into Saturday’s 10 a.m. championship game.

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