Cardinals come back for win

The Carson "Cardiac" Cardinals baseball team rallied not once, but twice for a wild 18-17 win over the Reno Muckdogs on Tuesday at Ron McNutt Field.

Down 16-7 going into the bottom of the eighth inning, the Cardinals scored 10 runs to take a 17-16 lead. After the Muckdogs tied the score in the ninth, the Cardinals scored in the bottom of the ninth for the win. Jeff Young had four hits, including three doubles, and six RBI to lead the Cardinals.

In the bottom of the ninth with two outs and none on, Nick Smallman was hit by a pitch and Chris Ames singled. Jeremiah Teeter reached on an infield single to load the bases.

Kevin Schlange was hit by a pitch to apparently force in the winning run, but home plate umpire Gary Cook - who is the father of Cardinals coach Steve Cook - ruled that Schlange didn't make an effort to avoid the pitch. Schlange went on to draw a walk to bring home Smallman with the winning run.

In the bottom of the eighth, Young singled and scored on Brooks Greenlee's double. Bryt Lewis followed with an RBI single and Sean Costella singled. Royal Good and Teeter were each hit by a pitch to force in a run.

Schlange hit an RBI single and Logan Parsley and Young each followed with two-run doubles. Greenlee reached on a bunt single and Young scored on a wild pitch to tie the score 16-16. Greenlee stole third and scored on a wild pitch to give the Cardinals a 17-16 lead.

In the top of the ninth, Carson High graduate Adam Anderson's sacrifice bunt gave the Muckdogs runners at second and third with one out. The Muckdogs tried a safety squeeze, but Lewis, who was pitching, fielded the ball and threw home to nail the runner at the plate. But then the Muckdogs pulled off a double steal with Galena's Andrew Ferguson scoring to tie the score 17-17.

Young's RBI double gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead in the first. The Cardinals' defense prevented the Muckdogs from having a big inning in the second. Galena's Shane Kockenmeister had an RBI single and the Muckdogs had runners at second and third with no outs.

Ames in right field made a spectacular over-the-shoulder diving catch and was able to double up Kockenmeister, who thought the ball was going to fall, at second. A run scored on the sacrifice fly to give the Muckdogs a 2-1 lead.

The inning ended when Teeter, from left field, threw to third baseman Sean Costella o a single and Costella threw out the runner trying to score from second.

The Cardinals scored six runs in the bottom of the second to take a 7-2 lead. Young capped the rally with a three-run double that made it 7-2.

The Muckdogs scored four runs in the fourth and three in the fifty on Kockenmeister's two-run double and Carson High graduate Jason Knowles' sacrifice fly to take a 9-7 lead. The Muckdogs scored three runs in the seventh and four in the top of the eighth to take a 16-7 lead.

Costella, Teeter and Greenlee all had two hits for the Cardinals. Kockenmeister had three hits and three RBI, Anderson doubled and Ferguson and Knowles each added a hit for the Muckdogs. Lewis pitched 1.1 innings for the win.