RENO - The oldest cliche in baseball - pitching and defense - wins games has never rang truer than in this year's Sierra League race.
And the Carson High baseball team found that out on Saturday and now finds itself in a bit of a hole in the league race. Wooster swept a doubleheader from the Senators on Saturday, winning the opener 11-2 and the nightcap 5-3.
Wooster won the opener on the strength of its ace pitcher Jake Rasner. Then the Colts used pitching and defense to win the nightcap while the Senators made just enough costly mistakes.
Carson made four errors and also had two base runners thrown out. Mike Teixeira went the distance for the Senators and pitched well enough to win, allowing three earned runs. In addition, he walked just two batters - but both walks came in the first inning and they proved to be ever so costly.
The Senators fell to 9-3 and into a third place tie with Reno High after Douglas finished off a three-game sweep of the Huskies on Saturday. Wooster improved to 11-1 and moved into second, one game behind 12-0 Douglas.
"The first game you tip your hat to Hake Rasner," Carson coach Steve Cook said. "That kid throws the ball real well. Mentally, as tough as nails. We've got those guys. We just don't play defense behind them right now."
Teixeira retired the first two batters he faced, but then walked the next two batters. Wooster went on to take a 3-0 lead on an infield single, two-run single and RBI single. The Colts took advantage of two errors to take a 4-0 lead in the second.
Carson cut the lead to 4-2 in the fourth after Logan Parsley doubled, Adam Anderson walked and Murph Gardner singled to load the bases. Brooks Greenlee walked to force in a run and the Senators' scored another run on Derek Shoaf's fielder's choice.
Jeremiah Teeter then singled to shallow left field and Cook waved Greenlee home from second. It took a perfect throw to nail Greenlee at the plate on a bang-bang play to end the inning.
Wooster scored another unearned run in the fifth to make it 5-2. Anderson walked and pinch runner Joe Skates eventually scored on Greenlee's single in the sixth to finish the scoring. Gardner had two hits, including a double, and Good added a hit for Carson.
In the opener, Rasner pitched a complete game five-hitter, striking out six. Jack Jacquet started for Carson and didn't pitch that badly, but Wooster was able to take advantage whatever mistakes he made.
The Colts took a 1-0 lead in the first on a hit batsman, stolen base, balk and a groundout. In the second, a single and walk gave Wooster runners at first and second with no outs.
Wooster tried a sacrifice bunt and Greenlee, the catcher, threw to third in an attempt to throw out the lead runner. The runner was ruled safe on a bang-bang play, loading the bases. Wooster went on to take a 4-0 lead on a fielder's choice and a two-run single.
In the fourth, Parsley reached on an infield single and eventually scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-1. An RBI double and an RBI single gave Wooster a 6-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth.
In the fifth, Shoaf singled, Alex Tanchek walked and Good moved both runners to second and third on a fielder's choice. Shoaf scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-2 and the Senators still had runners at first and third with one out, but failed to score any more runs.
After a double and an infield single in the bottom of the fifth, Josh Caron replaced Jacquet. Wooster went on to score two runs on a hit batsman, fielder's choice and throwing error to make it 8-2.
In the sixth, Carson had runners and second and third with no outs. But after Teeter lined out to second, the Senators failed to score. Wooster added three runs in the bottom of the sixth on a throwing error and a two-run double.
Shoaf had two hits, Greenlee doubled and Gardner added a hit for Carson. "We've still got six left and these kids still have a lot of fight in them," said Cook, referring to three league games left each with Reno and Douglas.