Relief ace Kilby shines in rare start for Durango

It looks as if Tim Chambers will join the coaching staff at the Community College of Southern Nevada a little sooner than he'd hoped.

Less than a week after he announced he would step down as Bishop Gorman baseball coach at season's end, Chambers' Gaels were knocked out of the 4A Southern Zone Tournament Monday, falling 6-2 to rival Durango.

While Gorman goes home, the Trailblazers (29-3) join Cimarron-Memorial, Green Valley and Silverado in the remaining field of four. That quartet will take the field at UNLV's Wilson Stadium Friday with two berths to next week's state tournament on the line.

"We still have a lot of work ahead of us," said Durango coach Mike Gomez, whose club will face Silverado (17-6) in a loser's-out game Friday at 2 p.m.

The Trailblazers moved on behind a strong pitching performance from senior right-hander Richard Kilby, Durango's top reliever for the latter half of the season.

In his first start in more than a month, Kilby limited the Gaels (25-6) to five hits in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out six hitters and walked three before giving way to J.T. Sherman, who closed the door in the seventh.

"We went with a hunch," said Gomez, referring to his decision to start Kilby and use Sherman, normally the team's No. 1 starter, out of the bullpen.

"Sherman has a pretty good track record of coming in and closing, and (pitching coach Mike) Stoker thought Sherman would be the right guy to close it."

Kilby's only significant trouble came in the opening frame, when three of Gorman's first four batters produced hits to bring home a pair of runs. From there, the Gaels' bats were relatively silent, managing only three singles the rest of the way.

"(Kilby) settled down and more than did what we asked of him," Gomez said.

Durango tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the second, with Brent Johnson's two-out, two-RBI single the key blow.

The Trailblazers then took control with a three-run fifth, stringing together four straight hits and drawing two walks to chase Gorman starter Ben Fox from the mound. John DiBetta, James Burgess and Brandon Perry each contributed an RBI in the inning.

"I knew we were going to score runs," Kilby said. "We feel very confident. We totally believe we can do it."

The game marked the end of one of the area's top coaching rivalries in recent years. Chambers leaves with a 9-6 record against Gomez, although Durango eliminated the Gaels from the playoffs twice during the 1990s.

"He's done a great job with his program, and I wish him well in his next venture," Gomez said. "It's been a good rivalry, and we don't know where it's going to go from here."

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