Senators come out swinging
Dave Price
This time the Carson High School baseball team didn't have to worry about playing catchup.
The Senators wasted no time as they scored seven runs in the first inning en route to an 11-0 victory against Fernley during the Carson Preseason Tournament Saturday afternoon at Ron McNutt Field. Eric Melendez pitched four-hit ball as Carson defeated Sparks 6-1 in the nightcap of a doubleheader to remain undefeated in the tournament.
Unlike Friday night, when the Senators fell behind Bay Area foe Tamalpais 9-0 and then rallied to score nine runs in their final at-bat to salvage a tie, they came out swinging from the start against Fernley.
"The kids did a good job," coach Ron McNutt said. "They came out and swung the bats early, and that's what we need to do. We talked about our approach to the game; we got down early last night and part of that was because we didn't come ready to play. I thought our approach today was much better."
The first six Senators to bat in the first inning reached base safely. Aaron Henry and Logan Parsley were hit by pitches to lead off the rally. Willie Bowman drove one run home with a single up the middle then Cameron Leck lined a two-run triple to right and came around to score on a throwing error on the play. Melendez and Royal Good singled, then with one out, David Nelsen singled one run home, Jeff Hurzel walked and Henry added an RBI single to give Carson a 7-0 lead.
Jason Alcasas hit a two-run single and Jason Knowles came off the bench to hit a single as the Senators extended their lead to 11-0 in the second inning.
Danny Rotter pitched three innings to earn the victory. The senior right-hander allowed one hit, a single up the middle by Cody Rieger to lead off the game, and just one walk.
Melendez pitched five strong innings in the nightcap, allowing one run and no walks, plus he rang up six strikeouts. Melendez helped his own cause with an RBI single in the fourth.
Bowman hit 2-for-3 and Hurzel drove a two-run double into the left-center field gap to give the Senators a 2-0 lead in the second inning.
Two more tournament games are scheduled on Monday: Fernley plays South Tahoe at 5 p.m. and Carson takes on Dayton at 7.
DAYTON
Andrew Rice pitched a complete game 7-2 victory against Bishop (Calif.), then freshman Travis Wood pitched well for the Dust Devils in their 3-3 tie against Tahoe-Truckee.
"Our kids have played well the whole tournament," Dayton coach Craig Miller said. "We really like what we've seen from our pitchers already, and defensively, we're already better than we were last year."
Rice allowed two runs on four hits and three walks, plus he struck out five during his five-inning performance against Bishop. Matt Bowman hit a two-run triple and Tim Torres added an RBI single to highlight a four-run first inning that gave the Dust Devils a lead they never relinquished.
In the second game, Truckee scored solo runs in the fourth and fifth innings to salvage a tie. Wood pitched five innings, allowed three runs on six hits, to go with four strikeouts, no walks and one hit batsman. Wood and Torres had one hit each while Bowman reached base three straight times and scored three runs.
"This is still the preseason. Our main goal is to get ready for next Saturday," Miller said, referring to the start of Dayton's Northern 3A division season. "We're just going to work hard and try to improve."
FERNLEY
Mike Lambeth hit 3-for-3 to help Fernley defeat North Tahoe 19-8 earlier on Saturday afternoon. The Vaqueros were further aided by Tony Selden, who went 2-for-3 with a triple, Craig Jameson's 2-for-2 with two doubles and Casey Bisard's 2-for-2.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Despite home runs from Chris Ames and Brooks Greenlee, Carson came out on the short end of an 8-6 score during its non-conference game at Fallon Saturday.
Fallon took an 8-5 lead in the sixth inning on a two-run homer. The Senators came back to score once and had the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, but they were unable to push any more runs across the plate.
Tony Fagan started on the mound and pitched four solid innings for the Senators, who saw their season record drop to 2-1.