LAS VEGAS -- Faith Lutheran has advanced to the Nevada Youth Baseball Association American Legion Silver Division tournament finals, after posting two victories at Eldorado High School.

The Crusaders will play either Sierra Vista or Bishop Gorman at 5 p.m. today in the double-elimination tournament. The "if" game will be played at 8 tonight.

Tuesday, Faith defeated Desert Oasis 6-1 and Wednesday, the Crusaders outscored Gorman 13-7.

In other games, it was Gorman 5, Sierra Vista 3 and Sierra Vista 12, Desert Oasis 2. Sierra Vista and Gorman played Thursday night.

Pahrump Valley, 10-10, did not qualify for the playoffs.

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The American Legion state tournament is down to four teams -- defending champion Gorman, Rancho, Reno and Sierra Vista. Those teams played Thursday night at Wilson Stadium on the UNLV campus.

The championship game will be played at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Tonight is the semifinal round, starting at 5 p.m.

Tuesday, Coronado defeated Bonanza 12-6 and Reno outscored Sierra Vista 13-11. Wednesday, it was Rancho 4, Arbor View 2 and Sierra Vista 8, Coronado 4.

With his team heading into an elimination game on Wednesday, Rancho baseball coach Tom Pletsch dreamed of sending a veteran pitcher onto the mound.

In the absence of such experience, he had to settle for a sophomore.

Zakery Qualls, who started the game with a 4-6 record and a 6.73 ERA, came through convincingly.

Qualls gave up only two earned runs over 7 2/3 innings to lead the fifth-seeded Rams past No. 8 Arbor View 4-2.

Rancho (21-18) squandered a bases-loaded opportunity in the bottom of the third inning before scoring two insurance runs to go ahead 4-1 in the sixth with the help of an Arbor View error and another RBI single by Kline.

But the Aggies (18-18) battled back in the eighth, chasing Qualls after cutting the deficit to 4-2 on an RBI single by Christopher Manning.

Sierra Vista 8, Coronado 4 -- In Wednesday's late game, the Lions (42-16) fell behind early before rallying to eliminate the Cougars.

Brooks Klein went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs to lead Sierra Vista's 12-hit attack. Teammate Tommy Barnes allowed three earned runs in eight innings to earn the victory.

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The Web site, nevadapreps.com, contributed to this story.