Legacy’s LeCates sparks Sunset past Sunrise in D-I baseball all-star game

Legacy shortstop Hayden LeCates didn’t play on a premier team this season. The Longhorns won six games and missed the playoffs.

But the junior showed he belonged with Southern Nevada’s best players Wednesday.

LeCates went 2-for-3 with an RBI to lead the Sunset to an 11-7 win over the Sunrise in the Division I All-Star Game at Morse Stadium.

“It feels pretty nice, actually, because we’re usually on the other end,” LeCates said of Legacy. “And it felt nice to score some runs, have good pitching, good defense.”

LeCates singled in his first at-bat in the bottom of the fifth inning, then hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Legacy teammate Nick Deluca in the seventh and give the Sunset an 8-7 lead. The Sunset scored three more runs in the inning to pull away.

“I thought I was going to be nobody,” LeCates said. “Just get a hit, maybe. It feels really good. I was expecting to play second base later in the game. I wasn’t expecting to do this well at the plate.”

Arbor View’s Nick Quintana hit a solo home run in the first and finished with two RBIs for the Sunset.

Green Valley’s A.J. Amelburu was 2-for-3 with two stolen bases, a run and an RBI for the Sunrise. Green Valley’s Jarrett Perns and Liberty’s Justin Lutes each had a double.

DIVISION I-A

Sunrise 7, Sunset 7 — Boulder City junior Peyton Koopman hit a three-run homer to left-center field in the bottom of the seventh inning for the Sunrise, and the game ended in a tie.

Boulder City’s Preston Van Diest and Moapa Valley’s Chaz Cornwall each singled to set up Koopman’s one-out blast.

Van Diest finished 2-for-2 with a stolen base and a run, and Cornwall was 2-for-3 with two runs.

Sierra Vista’s Jared Gonzalez had a two-run double, and Spring Valley’s Bryce Bullock was 1-for-2 with a run and two RBIs for the Sunset. Mojave’s Liam Harris added an RBI triple, and Pahrump Valley’s Drew Walker had a double.

Contact reporter Ashton Ferguson at aferguson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0430. Follow him on Twitter: @af_ferguson.