Carson Preseason Tournament
Dave Price
Call it a character builder.
Down 9-0 coming into its final at-bat, the Carson High School baseball team rallied to score nine runs and salvage a 9-9 tie against Tamalpais during the Carson Preseason Tournament Friday night.
Sophomore Logan Parsley hit a three-run double and Cameron Leck hit a game-tying two-run homer to highlight a nine-run fourth inning as the Senators improved their tournament record to 2-0-1 in a game played at Ron McNutt Field.
The Senators defeated Spring Creek earlier in the day, 11-3, but they had their hands full in the next game against Bay Area foe Tamalpais (Mill Valley, Calif.).
"It was nice we had that big inning," Carson coach Ron McNutt said. "Like we told the kids, that showed a little bit of character to come back like that."
The Senators only managed two hits through three innings against Tam's starting pitcher, sophomore left-hander Aaron Raff. They finally got the offense going in the fourth and final inning, aided by some help from the bench.
Cameron Leck drew a one-out walk and Eric Melendez slapped a single into left field to ignite the rally. Then pinch-hitters Kevin Schlange, Murph Gardner and Royal Good all walked to force two runs home. Jeff Hurzel lined a single into left field and Aaron Henry walked to score another run and cut Tam's lead to 9-4. Parsley followed with his bases-clearing double into the gap in right-center field. Chris Neeley came on to pitch in relief and retired Willie Bowman on a low liner to shortstop, then Leck hit a towering home run over the State Farm Insurance sign in left field to tie the score and Neeley retired Melendez on a fly ball to center field.
Carson used three pitchers - Jason Alcasas, Jared Wulff and Jack Jacquet - who combined to allow six hits, four walks and one hit batsman. Jacquet was the most effective, as the sophomore allowed one unearned run on one hit and one walk in the top of the fourth.
"I was disappointed in our pitching," McNutt said. "I don't want to single anyone out, but in general, we were pitching behind in the count all night and that hurt us."
Stan Nowak doubled twice and Neeley hit 2-for-2 to lead Tam's six-hit offense.
"We're young, but this is a hard working group," Tam coach Dan Parker said. "I'm just glad we have this opportunity to come up here and play some games. We don't see many teams like this (Carson), so I couldn't be happier."
In addition to the strong outing from Raff, freshman right-hander Spemcer Kennedy pitched a one-hitter as the Red Tailed Hawks defeated Fernley 8-0 earlier in the day.
In Carson's first game of the day, Alcasas hit a two-run double to highlight a six-run first inning rally that put the Senators on track to their win against Spring Creek. Parsley hit 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles, Alcasas 2-for-2 with one double and Bowman 1-for-3 with a double to lead Carson offensively.
Josh Caron earned credit for the win as he pitched 2.1 innings of relief, allowing no runs on one hit and one walk. The Senators were protecting a 6-3 lead in the second when Caron came on to pitch with the bases loaded and two outs. Caron got the first batter he faced to hit a ground ball to Parsley at second base for the third out.
"We made some mistakes today, but that's why we play preseason," McNutt said. "Hopefully, we can correct the mistakes. If we learn every day from our mistakes and don't repeat them, that just makes you a better person and makes us a better ball club."
The Senators return to action today with two more games, as they play Fernley at 5 p.m. and then Sparks at 8. Carson plays its last tournament game Monday with a 7 p.m. game against Dayton.
DAYTON 7, FALLON 0
The Dust Devils scored four runs in the first inning and that turned out to be more than ample support for Adam Diament, who pitch two-hit ball for the win.
Diament allowed just three base runners and got four strikeouts during his four-inning stint. Fallon put two runners aboard in the fourth, but Diament rang up a strikeout to retire the side.
Matt Bowman and Travis Wood both hit 2-for-3 and Danny Hopper was 1-for-1 with two walks to lead Dayton offensively. Bowman and Hopper both singled and Tom O'Brien delivered a sacrifice fly in the first inning.