DON McDERMOTT MORE COLUMNS CHARLOTTE UYENO / SPECIAL TO THE PVT Brandon Uyeno, background, and Iggy Wagner were key players on the Pahrump Valley American Legion baseball team this past season. The Trojans were 11-9 in Nevada Youth Baseball Association American Legion Silver Division games this past season. Advertisement

Winning 11 of 20 games and finishing fifth in the 11-team Silver Division of the Nevada Youth Baseball Association American Legion League were exceptional feats for a short-handed Pahrump Valley team.

Unfortunately, the Trojans did not qualify for the Silver Division playoffs, which began a five-day run at Eldorado High School Tuesday night. Only the top four -- pennant winner Las Vegas Legacy (19-1), Sierra Vista (15-5), Henderson Foothill (14-6) and Eldorado (14-6) -- advanced to the double-elimination tournament which sends its winner to the Mid-State Regionals at Pratt, Kansas, in mid-August.

The Trojans were 0-8 against those top four teams, bowing 10-8 and 7-0 to Eldorado; 12-11, 3-2 to Sierra Vista; 17-2, 13-7 to Foothill and 13-3, 9-2 to Legacy -- all on the road, which was why PV was just 1-9 away from the friendly confines of Honeysuckle Park.

Pahrump Valley completed a 10-0 home sweep Saturday, beating Western 1-0 by forfeit (the Warriors didn't have enough players at 5 p.m., when the first game of a doubleheader was to begin) and 10-6 in the nightcap, as the Trojans overcame a 6-2 deficit with a seven-run fourth-inning rally.

At home, Pahrump Valley defeated Cimarron-Memorial 10-2, 13-3; Bishop Gorman 14-3, 8-3; Henderson Coronado 12-11, 8-7, and Chaparral 7-1, 6-2, as well as Western. The Trojans' lone road win came at Shadow Ridge, 10-5, after a 6-5 loss.

The Trojans averaged 9.7 runs per game at Honeysuckle; visiting opponents were limited to 38 runs in nine games (4.2). On the road, however, the Trojans were outscored 9.5 to 5.0 rpg.

The 2008 Trojans were led throughout the season by center fielder Iggy Wagner, who when not affected by a shoulder injury, was as dangerous a player as there was in the league. Wagner doubled twice, singled and walked, while scoring four runs in the second-game win against Western.

He will not return in 2009, nor will pitcher Dax Duesing, catcher Ethan Wald, third baseman Daniel Miller, shortstop Cody Nielsen, second baseman John McHugh and first baseman-pitcher Brandon Uyeno.

Utility player-pitcher Mike Gonzalez, infielder Daimon Nelson, infielder Joey McCaw, reserve catcher Eddie Martinez and outfielder Jarret Holley will be the key returnees.

If there is one problem which has affected the summer baseball program at this level is a lack of consistent leadership from the bench.

This past spring, Trojans high school coach Doug Marion was replaced by Rich Lauver, with less than a month remaining in the regular season. PVHS, which had not defeated Las Vegas Faith Lutheran for five years, won back-to-back games against the Crusaders, including one in the regionals.

Lauver, however, made it be known that he had no intent on running the Legion program and that he would not return as the PVHS head baseball coach in spring 2009.

Brandon Bietar, a former PVHS player and a veteran of a couple seasons with the Faith Lutheran Legion team, was field manager in both 2007 and 2008. Bietar left the team late in the season, as internal team problems emerged.

It does not promise to be any different in 2009, none of the adults involved this summer may return. Bench leadership was been a problem since 2002; in 2001, the season was aborted because of injuries and eligibility problems,

That disappointing event occurred after the Pahrump Dust Devils of 1999 and 2000 had dominated that age-group division.

Lauver, who had been an assistant to PVHS varsity coach Mitch Lunde, directed the Dust Devils, but he was denied a shot at being the Trojans' baseball coach. Lauver moved to fast-pitch softball as an assistant coach in 2002. As head coach, Lauver guided the Lady Trojans to three straight Nevada Class 3-A state championships (2003, 2004, 2005).

At the moment, Pahrump Valley does not have a varsity high school baseball coach; Lauver was hired on an interim basis to complete the 2008 season and let be known early on that he did not intend on returning as a head coach in spring 2009.

Whoever is named coach for the Trojans is going to have to be involved in the Legion program, if not as coach, at least as someone who will insure the integrity and competence of the players and adult volunteers as well.

Pahrump Valley is moving into Class 4-A in the 2008-2009 school year; one of the teams in the Trojans' division (Sunset Region Southwest) is Nevada champion Las Vegas Bishop Gorman.

The Gaels, among the top-ranked teams in the nation, went 41-3 enroute to the title last spring. Their Gold Division team this summer was 22-2, while Gorman's two Junior Division teams combined for 26 wins in 28 starts. The Silver Division squad (the Titans) was 8-11 and finished 2-1/2 games behind the Trojans.

Baseball in Pahrump already has a model to emulate. Consider the success of the Pahrump Valley Junior Golf Association, its alumni have produced five state championship girls teams and the boys' squad -- which has always been blessed with solid individual players -- has improved to the point where it can win regional championships, as it did in the Southern 3-A League this past spring.

With proper direction, baseball can once again be a formidable sport at PVHS; the game flourished in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s when Rod Poteete was the coach. And it can be successful in the summer; Lauver's teams of 1999 and 2000 proved that. Finding capable adult leadership has to be a priority.