At one point Friday, Basic baseball coach Gino DiMaria wasn’t sure star third baseman Matthew Kelley was going to be able to finish the game.

Not only did Kelley finish, he came on to pitch with the tying run on base and slammed the door.

Kelley threw 1⅔ scoreless innings of relief as the Wolves defeated visiting Desert Oasis 9-4.

“It’s funny, because he had stomach problems,” DiMaria said. “And he didn’t know if he could even continue the game. And we were like, ‘Well, if it’s stomach problems, you can handle it after the game. But meanwhile, hold it in and do your thing.’”

Second-ranked Basic (8-4, 4-0 Class 5A Desert League) led 6-4 in the sixth, but No. 7 Desert Oasis had runners at second and third when DiMaria turned to Kelley. Despite shifting straight from third base and not getting a full bullpen warmup, Kelley was in command right away. He struck out both batters he faced in the sixth looking — one on a fastball and the other on a slider.

“I only throw two pitches, so I trust them both a lot,” Kelley said. “I know a lot of people think I throw hard, so I’m going to come fastball. But as a hitter I think it’s harder to hit both, and when someone’s kind of just throwing fastball it’s easier to see that and time that. So I like to switch it up.”

Basic tacked on three insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Mike Ornellas and a throwing error.

Kelley then picked up where he left off, striking out the Diamondbacks’ No. 3 hitter Brody Griffith to start the seventh. After a walk, Kelley got Crue Smith to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the game.

“He’s our closer, and he’s a guy that can come in and throw,” DiMaria said. “He’s got a good slider. His (velocity) is high and he’s a competitor. And that’s what we love about him.”

Basic plated three runs in the bottom of the first without hitting a ball particularly hard.

Troy Southisiene hit the hardest ball of the inning, but it was a leadoff lineout to center. Kelley reached on a throwing error and Andruw Giles walked. Lyndon Lee was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Kelley came home on a passed ball. Giles scored on Brandon Lord’s slow roller to short, and Ace Sapp brought in the third run on an infield single.

“Sometimes you’re going to get the little blooper hit,” DiMaria said. “Sometimes you’ll get a walk. Sometimes you’ll get a passed ball, and we just kind of scratched our way through that inning. And then we just kind of found a way to keep the lead.”

Sapp had a solo homer to highlight Basic’s three-run third. He finished 2-for-4 with a run and two RBIs, and Kelley was 2-for-4 with two runs.

Griffith slammed a two-run homer to dead center to lead Desert Oasis (12-6-1). Lincoln Guillermo and Ashton Kidd each added two hits for the Diamondbacks.

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