The Pahrump Valley baseball team is beginning to hit their stride as they have extended their winning streak to four straight games after closing out their appearance in the Route 66 tournament in River Valley with three consecutive wins.
The Trojans (7-5) played in five games over the three days in Arizona to end their spring break over the weekend.
Pahrump kicked off the tournament with back-to-back losses on Thursday to Lake Havasu and Prescott high schools.
But they would bounce back in a huge way.
Since then, the Trojans have outscored their last four opponents 26-5 with two shutouts in the mix.
Their winning streak began on Friday with a doubleheader against Lee Williams High School and host-school River Valley.
Senior Fidel Betancourt got the start on the mound for the Trojans against Lee Williams.
After giving up two runs on two hits in the bottom of the first inning to the Volunteers, Betancourt settled into the game and allowed just one run on three hits over his next four innings.
He pitched five innings, giving up five hits and three runs while striking out seven batters.
The Trojans would tie the game 2-2 in the top of the fourth inning, then would take the lead for good in the top of the fifth inning on a wild pitch by the Volunteers, scoring Kyle McDaniel from third base.
The Trojans would add five more runs before winning 8-3 against Lee Williams.
Pahrump’s second game of the day was much more of a pitcher’s duel than a hit-fest.
The starting pitchers for Pahrump Valley and River Valley combined to allow just five hits and struck out 24 batters.
McDaniel got the start for the Trojans. He pitched a complete 6-inning shutout game, giving up just one hit and striking out a career-high 15 batters.
His previous career-high in strikeouts was 13 in an 11-0 victory over Virgin Valley during the 2022 season.
McDaniel helped himself out in the first inning with an RBI double that scored James Metscher, giving the Trojans a 1-0 lead.
Pahrump would add one more run in the top of the fifth inning on an RBI single by sophomore Andrew Zurn, scoring freshman Kayne Horibe and giving the Trojans a 2-0 win over the Dust Devils.
In their final game of the tournament, the Trojans got another huge 8-2 victory over the Kingman Bulldogs.
The Trojans as a team walked a total of seven times in the game. Dustin Lopez had two of those walks.
Metscher, Betancourt and McDaniel combined to score six of the eight Pahrump runs and McDaniel finished his day going 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
Pahrump Valley returned home on Monday for their first home game in nearly two weeks. They welcomed the Western Warriors in an afternoon matchup.
Junior Justin Ybarra got his second start of the year for the Trojans. His first start was one that he would like to throw out, allowing five runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings of work against the Southeast Career Tech Roadrunners in the Blazer Bash tournament last week.
Ybarra would make up for his previous struggles in a big way. He pitched four scoreless innings, giving up just two hits to the Warriors.
Ybarra also had a good day at the plate, finishing the day 1-for-2 and scoring once.
Horibe and McDaniel were the only Trojans to have multiple hits against the Warriors. Horibe went 2-for-3 with a fifth inning RBI double.
Horibe has become one of the team’s leading hitters this season. He is currently fourth on the team in batting average at .368 and he is sixth on the team in on-base percentage at .435.
Pahrump Valley took complete control of the game with a 4-run third inning, thanks to a 2-run single by Betancourt and an error by the Western infielders on a ground ball by McDaniel, leading to two runs scoring.
The Trojans would come away with an 8-0 win against the Warriors.
Pahrump will be back on the field this Thursday, March 23, when they travel to Las Vegas to take on the Eldorado Sun Devils.
The Sun Devils are coming into this matchup with a 6-3-1 record. They had their 3-game win streak snapped on Monday in a 4-3 loss to the SLAM Nevada Bulls.
First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
Contact sports writer/editor Danny Smyth at dsmyth@pvtimes.com. Follow @_DannySmyth on Twitter.