Pahrump Valley baseball gets fifth straight win

Sitting undefeated in the 3A South-Mountain baseball standings, the Pahrump Valley Trojans got their fifth win in a row.

In the Trojans’ last conference game the team dominated the Sunrise Mountain Miners for the second time this season. This keeps Pahrump Valley in the No. 2 spot right behind The Meadows School, who are 7-0. But The Meadows School Mustangs might have the advantage this season over the Trojans.

Early in the season the Mustangs played a non-conference game against the Sierra Vista Mountain Lions. The Mountain Lions won 7-3, where Sierra Vista took off in the fifth inning to secure the win. Last week the Trojans also played against Sierra Vista but Pahrump Valley took a big loss because its opponent quickly dominated the game, scoring 10 points in two innings. By the end of the game the Mountain Lions won 13-1.

Currently, the only stats that the Trojans are ahead in is the total number of stolen bases and Pahrump Valley has played in more games. Here are the results of the last two games the Trojans played.

Sunrise Mountain (11-1, Trojans win)

Andrew Zurn (24) and Austin Sandoval (5) played a big part in the win against Sunrise Mountain after both scored the most runs batted in and pitched strikeouts, on April 4. In the first game they played, Pahrump Valley won 10-2 and they were now able to stay dominant in their rematch game.

The Miners were the first to score at the top of the first inning on a fielder’s choice when Sandoval was pitching. But when the team switched sides, the Trojans didn’t take long to take the lead. After a walk, Aidyn Cratty (17) hit a double and Dominic Chiancone (2) scored the first run. And after the team hit two doubles for Cratty, Benny Cimperman (23) and Sandoval scored to bring the score to 4-1.

At the bottom of the second inning, after a single from Chiancone, Vinny Whitney (3) scored. The third inning was even better for the Trojans as they started off with a single from Zurn so that Sandoval could score. Then Tony Whitney hit a triple for Zurn to score, followed by Keir Sheppard’s (8) double where Tony Whitney scored.

And to close out the game in the fifth inning, Sheppard stole home base and Domonik Wilson (13) scored to close the game out 11-1.

Andrew Zurn (24) and Austin Sandoval (5) both had two runs batted in which was the most on the team. Sandoval and Tony Whitney (22) each had two runs. Tony Whitney was also able to hit a triple which only resulted in a run batted in.

The Trojans stole a total of 13 bases, Sandoval had three of those steals, which was the most from the team. The team also didn’t pitch a single walk for the Miners. Sandoval and Zurn struck out a total of six Miners.

Clark (8-4, Trojans lose)

The Trojans made the best out of the first inning as the team picked up two runs after a single from Cratty where Tony Whitney scored. Cratty saw his opportunity on an error to steal home to start the Trojans off 2-0 before switching sides.

Joseph Leftwich IV (37) was able to hold the Chargers off as the pitcher but soon the Trojans lost the lead after they scored three runs to take the lead in the second inning. After that, the Trojans weren’t able to keep up.

It wasn’t until the sixth inning that Sandoval and Zurn were able to score, but that only got the Trojans up to four runs and to Clark’s eight runs. The Trojans lost their game.

Next up

The Trojans are playing their second game against the Sports Leadership and Management on April 11 in Pahrump.