Helper (Utah) left fielder Jamal Lewis left his post to relieve starter Troy Grundy in the eighth inning with no outs and the bases loaded.
That change in scenery proved to be the opening Cimarron-Memorial was waiting for en route to a 7-4 victory in the first round of the American Legion Western Regional Thursday at the Community College of Southern Nevada.
Lewis struck out Spartans outfielder Brandon Trodick, but then surrendered four runs. Cimarron third baseman Allan Woodward and outfielder/pitcher Paul Schmidt scored on consecutive wild pitches and Lewis walked in two more runners before being relieved by shortstop Mathew Jewkes, who got the final two outs.
Until the eighth, Grundy had held Cimarron in check.
"We were glad to see him (Grundy) go," Cimarron manager Kevin Kohler said. "We hit his fastball, then he started throwing his slider that disappeared on us.
"We couldn't get runs. Guys were in scoring position, but we couldn't drive in the runners."
Matthew Wagner allowed six hits, two runs and struck out eight in seven innings for the win. Schmidt allowed two runs and struck out three in two innings to earn a save.
Grundy gave up 11 hits, six runs and struck out nine in seven innings in absorbing the loss.
Cimarron (40-9) will play Woodland Hills, Calif. (26-10) tonight at 8 p.m. as pool play continues.
This was the first regional victory for Cimarron. Two years ago, C-M won the state championship, but was eliminated in the regional after losing three one-run games.
With a five-run lead entering the ninth, Cimarron had flashbacks of blowing a five-run lead in a 10-9 loss to Silverado in last week's state tournament.
"In this game, we wanted anything we could get," Wagner said. "The last two innings have been kind of scary for us so we wanted to keep tacking on runs any way we could.
"It's really good to get that first win. We wanted to get off to a good start."
Schmidt struck out two of three batters in the eighth. He escaped the ninth inning after allowing two runs.
Woodward went 2-for-5 with two runs scored an an RBI while Trodick went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
In Thursday's early games, Tucson (Ariz) defeated Boulder (Colo), 9-1 and Honolulu Mid-Pacific (Hawaii) beat Woodland Hills (Calif.), 10-5.
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