RENO - Ron McNutt ended his baseball career at Carson High School on an emotional note and Willie Bowman ended his with an exclamation point at Reno High School Friday afternoon.
Unfortunately for the Senators, three home runs from Bowman wasn't enough in a 12-8 Northern 4A Regional Tournament defeat at the hands of the Reno Huskies in an elimination game played at Zunini Field.
By losing, the Senators ended their season with a 22-15 overall record and closed the book on McNutt's storied run as head coach at Carson - a 29-year span in which his high school teams compiled a 655-267 record.
And yes, he insists this is the end.
"This is it, no changing my mind," said McNutt, who was greeted by numerous parents, fans and friends as he exited the dugout after talking to his team one last time.
"No, I didn't want to have it end like this, especially for the kids. But you know, we battled, we scored in every inning except one and it just wasn't enough. Maybe on a different day it would have been, but it wasn't today."
Bowman, a senior shortstop who has already signed with UNLV, put on an offensive fireworks show in which he went 3-for-3 with three homers and five RBIs. The only time he was retired was a long sacrifice fly that drove Royal Good home with a run in the sixth.
"Great day," McNutt said of Bowman, a four-year varsity starter at Carson. "Three home runs and one that almost got out for the fourth ... five RBIs ... If we'd had a few more of those with guys on base, it might have been a different story."
The fans barely had time to settle into their seats when Bowman stroked a solo home run to give the Senators a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
After Eric Melendez was hit by a pitch to lead off the third, Bowman lined a 1-2 pitch for a home run to center field - directly over the "Go Huskies" sign - to tie the score 4-4. With Reno leading 9-4 in the fifth, Bowman came up with the bases empty and ripped a shot to the same spot - only further.
"I saw the ball pretty well today," Bowman said. "I was just trying to hit the ball hard where they pitched it and good things happened. I'm very thankful that I was able to end my career here on that note, but it would have been better if we had won.
"They played a very good game and we played pretty solid, too. We just didn't have it as much as we needed."
It certainly wasn't a game the Senators gave away. Rather, the Huskies came out and played like the defending regional champions they are.
Reno scored in every inning except the sixth, including three-run rallies in the second, third and fourth frames. Carson scored in each of their at-bats except the fourth, although they would have probably put more runs on the board if not for some sterling defense by the Huskies.
With the score tied 1-1 in the second inning and a runner on second, Dave Nelsen belted a long drive that right fielder Procter Hug ran down to make an over-the-shoulder catch for the first out. Hug also made a shoestring catch of Logan Parsley's sinking line drive to end the third. In the fifth, center fielder Drew Johnson stretched out to make a diving catch of Kevin Schlange's short fly ball for the third out with runners on first and second.
"I thought Drew Johnson and Procter Hug made great plays on line drive hits that changed the momentum of the game," Reno coach Pete Savage said. "That (over-the-shoulder) catch Procter made was big ... he stepped up for us today, both offensively and defensively."
Reno collected 13 hits, including Hug's home run to lead off the fifth and Mike Lienert's two-run homer in the second. Lienert, who pitched into the sixth inning to earn credit for the win, went 4-for-4 with four RBIs and Davis Banks was 3-for-3 with a double.
Cameron Leck hit 2-for-4, including a solo home run to right field in the seventh, and Melendez went 2-for-3 with one RBI as Carson finished with 10 hits.
Reno came back to beat McQueen 15-2 later in the day to remain alive in the tournament. The two teams meet again today at noon in an elimination game at Ron McNutt Field.
For Carson, it marked the end of a season filled with adversity, including numerous key injuries. It would have been easy to throw in the towel, but the Senators never did.
"We could have, but no one on this team gave up," Bowman said. "We battled the whole season and I think we finished very respectably. We played hard every single day and I'm very proud of everybody for doing that."