Bengals break through in seventh, top Grizzlies in Connie Mack tournament
Through the first six innings Monday afternoon, the LV Bengals looked overwhelmed at the plate against LV Grizzlies ace Nick Rupp.
Fortunately for the Bengals, baseball games at this level are seven innings.
Micah Higa's RBI triple in the top of the seventh inning off the hard-throwing southpaw capped a three-run outburst that lifted the seventh-seeded Bengals past the second-seeded Grizzlies, 3-2, in the first round of the Southern Nevada Connie Mack state tournament at the College of Southern Nevada.
Rupp had only allowed four hits while striking out eight batters in the first six innings.
"This feels pretty good right now, but Iâm more excited for the kids," Bengals coach Matt Estrada said. "We've had nine losses this summer with seven of them by one run. I kept telling the kids that if you keep fighting, it's going to go our way one of these days. The kids came up clutch when we needed it. This win was a total team effort."
The victory sends the Bengals into the winners' bracket of the tournament, and they play the LV Patriots at 5 p.m. Wednesday at CSN. The Grizzlies will have to play through the losers' bracket in the double-elimination tournament. They will face the LV Bulldogs at 8 p.m. Tuesday at CSN.
The Bengals started the seventh inning with a leadoff triple by Luis Lares. Brady Pagel then drew a walk, and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Byron Nitzger.
Rupp then collected his ninth strikeout of the day, and it appeared he would get out of the jam when he got ahead of rising sophomore shortstop Nick Desoto.
However, Desoto forced a 3-2 count before lining a Rupp fastball into right field to tie the game at 2-2.
"I had seen three fastballs, and I knew what was coming on the 3-2 count," Desoto said. "I just saw it all the way and hit it. It felt great. I had goose bumps when I hit it."
After the Bengals took the lead in the top of the seventh inning, right-hander Kyle Ming struck out the first two batters then induced a fly ball to left fielder Xavier Miller to secure the win.
Ming threw a complete game to earn the victory, allowing two runs on eight hits. He struck out four.
"Kyle started around seven to eight games for us, and he went the full seven innings all but once," Estrada said. "He's not real imposing physically, and a lot of teams, kind of underestimate him. He throws more than one pitch and throws a lot of strikes, which is all you can ask for. He's been doing it all year long. He's what you want out of an athlete, and he is a good person on and off the field."
GV Elite 6, LV Wildcats 2 -- Drake Maningo went 2-for-3 with a single, double, four RBIs and scored a run to lead the top-seeded Elite past the eighth-seeded Wildcats.
Spencer Cofer allowed two runs on five hits and struck out seven batters to earn the complete-game win.
The Elite face the Summerlin Panthers at 8 p.m. Wednesday in a winners' bracket contest. The Wildcats play the LV Spartans at 5 p.m. today in an elimination game.
After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the third inning, the GV Elite plated three runs in the bottom half of the inning on a two-run double by Maningo and an RBI single by Jake Leonard, who finished the night 2-for-3 with a triple and a run.
The Wildcats scored again in the top of the fourth inning on a RBI groundout by Antonio Gaxiola. The Elite then put the game away by adding two more runs on a single by Maningo.
Summerlin Panthers 6, LV Spartans 4 -- Cobi Fiechtner went 2-for-4 with a RBI, and Nolan Erickson went 2-for-3 to lead the Panthers past the Spartans in the first game of the day.
Sam Powers pitched a complete game to pick up the win for the fifth-seeded Panthers.
The Panthers scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning to take control of the game. A crucial error on a drag bunt by the Panthers' Blake Porter allowed two runs to score in the inning.
LV Patriots 11, LV Bulldogs 1 -- Ed O'Bannon allowed four hits and struck out 10 to lead the third-seeded Patriots past the sixth-seeded Bulldogs in five innings.
Nick Rush was 4-for-4 with a double, a triple and five RBIs for the Patriots.
