High School Spring Sports : Hart’s 3-Game Run Total Hits 43

Hart players may wonder what it takes to impress baseball Coach Bud Murray.

The Indians scored in double figures for the third consecutive game in the Eldorado tournament in Las Vegas, beating Kingman (Ariz.), 14-4, in the semifinals Friday to give Hart 43 runs scored in three tournament games. And that figure might have been higher had not Kingman decided to stop playing after six innings.

Still, Murray seemed hesitant to heap too much praise on his 12-0 team.

“We did OK,” Murray said. “We hit the ball hard, but we hit the ball hard for some outs, too. We hit the ball, I’m not knocking that, I’m just saying we did OK offensively.”

Hart has banged out 45 hits, including 11 doubles and 2 home runs. On Friday, the Indians had a 6-0 lead by the third inning and, after Kingman scored a run in the top of the fourth, scored five runs in the bottom of the inning. In addition to hitting the ball hard, Hart took advantage of six Kingman errors to score five unearned runs.

Jason Edwards was 3 for 3 and drove in two runs and teammates David Toledo and Chris Vasquez each had two hits.

David Margrave (1-0), who Murray recently promoted from the junior varsity, pitched a complete game for the victory. A left-handed junior, Margrave allowed 10 hits and one run before Kingman (4-6) roughed him up for three sixth-inning runs.

“He did a nice job to get the innings,” said Murray, whose top two pitchers, Edwards and Chris Matkin, threw complete games in Hart’s wins Thursday. “He was going to have to finish it up one way or another and he did a nice job.”

Hart will play Cedar City of Utah in the championship game at 2 this afternoon. Cedar City beat Eldorado, the host team, 11-10, Thursday by scoring seven runs in the seventh inning.

“We should win tomorrow unless all the cars break down on the way to the park,” Murray said. “It could go the other way, but we should beat them.”

Casey Burrill (1-0) will start for Hart with Matkin, who has a team-high three saves, available in relief, Murray said.

Las Vegas Valley 7, Kennedy 5--Brian Roth (2-1) started against Valley and allowed only one run in the first four innings but had to leave after facing only two batters in the fifth inning of the Chaparral tournament game in Las Vegas.

“He’s had arm problems and he could only give me so many innings,” Kennedy Coach Dick Whitney said. “If he could go seven innings, he’d be one of the best pitchers in the league.”

Third baseman Arnie Aguinaga replaced Roth and allowed four hits and three runs as Valley (11-0), the top-ranked 3-A team in Nevada, scored five runs to blow open a 1-1 game.

For Kennedy, Mike Murray was 2 for 4, Craig Fleck was 3 for 4 and twins Brian and Scott Roth each had two hits.

Kennedy 8, Las Vegas Bishop Gorman 6--Bruce Carreau and Mike Schlesinger, a point guard on the Cougar basketball team, had three hits for Kennedy (7-8), which finished the two-day tournament with a 2-2 record. Gino Tagliaferri, a Times All-Valley shortstop, returned to the lineup after suffering an eye injury Thursday and tripled.

“We did some good things and some sloppy things,” Whitney said of his team’s play in the tournament. “The kids got in a lot of baseball and they had a pretty good time. It was a good experience.

“We just wanted to find out what the kids can do. We carried 19 players and everyone started at least one game. Everybody got a chance to play and we got a chance to see who can contribute.”