Amos Combrink provides the heroics in Coconino's extra-inning win over city rival Sinagua
By DANIEL BERK
Sun Sports Staff
Friday, April 03, 2009
Seconds before Coconino's Amos Combrink walked to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning against Sinagua on Thursday with runners on first and second and no one out, Panthers third base coach Louis Lucero waved his hands to get head coach Ed Vesely's attention.
When he looked over, Lucero wanted to know if Vesely wanted Combrink to bunt . Vesely briefly thought about it and then decided to let his catcher swing away.
It turns out it was the perfect call.
Combrink hammered SHS pitcher Tyson Callan's third offering over the left- centerfield wall for a three-run walk-off home run to give the Panthers a thrilling 13-10 win.
"(Amos is) swinging the bat as well as anyone on the team and I wanted him to have a chance to win it," Vesely said. "We've got a lot of good hitters on this team, but there's no one else I would rather have up in that situation than Amos."
It was Combrink's second homer of the day. He hit a two-run shot in the first inning and finished 2-for-4 with five RBIs, three runs scored and a stolen base.
"When I went up there in the eighth I was just trying to stay calm and clear my mind," he said. "When it went out, it was a feeling that's better than anything I've ever felt out here.
"I'm on Cloud Nine right now."
While the day ended in jubilation for the Panthers, there were some extremely anxious moments along the way.
Coconino (7-12 overall 1-1 Grand Canyon Region) went into the seventh inning leading 10-3 and it looked like the Panthers were going to cruise to their first league win of the season. Instead, the Mustangs put together a major rally and scored seven runs to tie the game up and send it into the bottom half of the inning.
Third baseman Shane Brinkmann started the inning off with a walk and was brought home on an RBI double by Callan. Trent Gonzalez then blooped a single into right field to move Callan to third with no outs.
The Panthers then made a pitching change and replaced starter Cuv Willett with junior Trevor Kriesel.
Kriesel didn't fare much better than Willett as the next two hitters, as Kevin Wirth and Brandon Leffler both shot doubles into the gap to make it 10-7.
Robbie Ingram then drew a walk and Cody Roberts laced a double into the right- centerfield gap to score Leffler.
After Kriesel got Daniel Talbot to pop out, pinch-hitter Cody Wallace singled to score pinch- runner J.J. Salazar and Roberts and tie the game up.
With two outs, Kriesel struck out Gonzalez looking to finally end the inning.
"Hitting is contagious and once one guy started hitting, everyone started to come around," Sinagua coach Rich Contreras said. "Everyone stepped up there and battled as hard as they could.
"They could have mailed it in, but they didn't."
The Panthers couldn't score in the bottom of the seventh and then Kriesel put up a zero in the top of the eighth before Combrink won it in bottom half.
"I'm too old for this," Vesely said with a smile. "That was just your typical Sinagua- Coconino game. Crazy things always seem to happen and (Thursday) was no exception. You have to hand it to Sinagua for fighting back."
In all, CHS had four homers on the day in windy conditions.
Brent James and Willett each added one. James finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs and three runs scored.
Willett was 3-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored. He was in line to get the win on the mound, pitching the first six innings, but ended up getting a no decision.
Sinagua (10-9, 0-2) was led by Wirth who was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Callan finished 3-for-5 with an RBI, two runs scored and a stolen base.
Coconino will play next on Tuesday when it hosts Page. Sinagua will also play on Tuesday, hosting Cottonwood Mingus.