Silverado pitcher Kevin Pindel closes out game in win over Centennial

Silverado pitcher Kevin Pindel’s personality strongly resembles his style on the mound.

The 6-foot-1-inch, soft-spoken right-hander is not a power pitcher, but he can deal well enough to make a point.

On Saturday night, Silverado coach Brian Whitaker turned to Pindel over the final two innings as the fifth-seeded Hawks held off No. 4 Centennial for a 6-4 victory in the opening round of the American Legion state baseball tournament at UNLV’s Wilson Stadium.

With Silverado clinging to a 5-4 lead in the eighth inning, Pindel fired two scoreless innings and struck out the final four batters he faced to earn the save.

“I was really just trying to throw strikes and let them hit the ball, and let my defense play,” Pindel said. “I wasn’t feeling 100 percent, but I had to bear down.”

Of the 19 pitches Pindel threw, 11 were for strikes (57.8 percent).

Starting pitcher Jerald Murray (5-2) got the win after scattering 11 hits and allowing three earned runs over five innings. He struck out three.

Reliever Mitchell Ballard gave the Bulldogs two innings of work before handing it off to Pindel.

“Jerald had a good start, but I really thought both teams hit the ball well,” Whitaker said. “I think both pitching staffs did a good job in pitching out of trouble. Jerald had good command tonight, and threw it where he wanted to. The big difference came when Pindel took the mound. This wasn’t exactly the type of game we saw a lot of guys punching out. But Pindel got his fastball moving with late life and did a good job in shutting things down for us.”

Silverado leadoff hitter Dax Fellows sparked the offense, going 3-for-6 with a double, a triple and a run scored.

“That kid is a player, and he was producing,” Whitaker said. “We hit the ball hard. There weren’t a lot of hard outs from either lineup. But when the leadoff guy hits the gap for a triple to start the game, it takes the edge off. That settled our nerves and put is in a comfort zone for the game.”

Michael Camburn went 2-for-4 with a run scored and three RBIs to help the Hawks.

Tanner Wright and Austin Kryszczuk each had three hits for Centennial. Starter Garrett Holden took the loss for the Bulldogs (18-16), who will meet the Las Vegas Patriots (16-22-1) in an elimination game at 5 p.m. Monday.

BASIC 7, LIBERTY 3 — The Blue Sox (47-11) got eight scoreless innings from starting pitcher Chris Dornak (7-2), who scattered five hits and struck out nine to earn the win. Anthony Avila got the save after pitching the ninth inning for Basic.

Roger Riley and Ryne Nelson each went 3 for 5, Jack-Thomas Wold was 2 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI and Cory Wills was 2 for 2 with three runs scored. The Blue Sox finished with 13 hits.

The Patriots (16-22-1) were led by John Messervey, who went 2 for 3 with a run scored. Liberty starter Ethan Safier (3-4) took the loss after allowing three earned runs over five innings of work.

Silverado (17-13) moves on in the winner’s bracket and will face Basic on Monday. Centennial (18-16) will play Liberty in Monday’s early game.