Thursday, Apr. 24, 2008

Baseball notebook: Othello, DeSales staffs almost untouchable

By Kevin Anthony, Herald staff writer

Robert DeNiro famously expressed a love of teamwork --and a good baseball bat -- playing Al Capone in The Untouchables.

The Othello and DeSales pitching staffs were just as big on teamwork Saturday and dealt with opposing batters with Capone-like toughness.

Isaiah Suarez, Michael Garza and Chris Brunetti combined to no-hit Prosser in the Huskies' 14-1 CWAC win.

Meanwhile, Irish pitchers Marcus Fazzari and Keith Shelton combined to blank Waitsburg-Prescott in a 10-0 win in Blue Mountain play.

It's easy to imagine the conversation Suarez and Fazzari, the respective starters, had with their coaches when they got the hook.

All part of the plan, said Othello coach Larry Gonzales, who was intent on keeping Suarez fresh for a big week ahead.

"What I was trying to do was preserve one of my pitchers," Gonzales said. "I would have done it with my first pitcher, but the offense took a little too long to get going, so he had to stay in there."

The strategy allowed Gonzales to get a rare inning of work for Brunetti, who hasn't worked much since taking a ball square in the face while throwing batting practice April 5.

Oh, and Marc Garza -- the pitcher who had to stay in the first game against Prosser -- tossed a three-hitter.

Garza, a junior, is the younger brother of Sonny Garza, the two-time 2A state player of the year who led Othello to the state title in 2003.

The older Garza plays for San Jose State and will be in Pullman from Friday-Sunday for a series with Washington State. Gonzales said he plans to take a group of players to watch Sunday's game.

"As a team, we're going to try to go and support Sonny," he said. "He did a lot for our school."

-- Among the key weekend matchups is a CBL 3A gem Friday when Kennewick (5-2) travels to West Valley (5-1) for a pair. West Valley and Southridge (6-2) are tied for first, a half-game ahead of Kennewick and one up on Kamiakin (4-2).

A split between the Lions and Rams could leave the door open for the Suns, who play at Eastmont (2-6). The Wildcats are stinging a little after ace Seth Haehl, who signed with the University of Washington, gave up eight hits and five runs in a 5-3 loss to Hanford on Tuesday, the Falcons' first league win of the season.

Saturday is a big day in the CWAC, with four of the top five teams facing off. The prime matchup is co-leaders Ellensburg (13-2) and Selah (13-2) playing a pair. But Othello (11-4) has a great chance to make up some ground with Ephrata (13-2) in town.

Meanwhile, front-running Kiona-Benton (7-1) plays at Connell (5-3) in an interesting SCAC East doubleheader.

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