Murph Gardner came to the plate in the fourth inning simply looking to hit the ball to the outfield, but he managed to do better than that. The senior first baseman hit the ball over the right field fence for a game-breaking grand-slam home run that helped the Carson High baseball team to a 7-3 victory against South Tahoe during its own Carson Preseason Tournament on Saturday night.
Gardner hit 1-for-2 with five RBIs to lead the way as the Senators improved their season and tournament record to 4-1 at Ron McNutt Field. Gardner hit 3-for-3 earlier in Carson's 10-0 win against Dayton, including a game-ending RBI double in the third inning.
"That second game was a good one," Carson coach Steve Cook said. "That was a complete team victory. We had a lot of guys step up in situations when we needed them."
Carson was nursing a 3-2 lead in the fourth when the switch-hitting Gardner came to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. Kevin Schlange and Logan Parsley had singled and Wes Osmer was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Gardner, swinging as a lefty, blasted a 1-1 pitch over the "Just Doc" sign in right-center field.
"I just told Murph we needed a ball in the outfield," Cook said. "He tried to drive the ball, and he went yard. He's improved a lot since last year. He worked hard all summer, and he's hitting the ball real well right now."
The Senators threatened to do more damage in the inning, but South Tahoe catcher Buck Pershing threw out two runners trying to steal third base to retire the side.
Carson took a 3-2 lead with two runs in the third. After Parsley was hit by a pitch and Osmer doubled, Gardner drove in the tying run on a ground ball to first base. Pinch-hitter Adam Anderson drove in the go-ahead run moments later on a sacrifice fly to center.
"Adam came up as a pinch-hitter and did exactly what we needed him to do," Cook said.
South Tahoe took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, sparked by Stephen Yarrow's double off the center field fence. The Vikings got four hits off Carson starter Joe Skates in the inning, but he was near flawless through the rest of his four-inning performance.
"Joe Skates threw four very solid innings," Cook said of Skates, who retired eight of the last nine batters he faced. "He gave up two runs in the first, but he bucked up and hung up donuts the rest of the way, and that's exactly what we're looking for from a sophomore."
Sophomore Nick Smallman came on in the fifth and allowed one run on Curtis Maxwell's home run to left.
Osmer and Parsley both hit 2-for-2 with doubles to lead Carson offensively.
"Against a team in our league, that's a good W," Cook said. "But this is just a practice game. Give them another couple of innings and this could have been a different game. This South Tahoe team will battle you to the end. You know they're going to be there to play seven innings."
CARSON 10, DAYTON 0
Royal Good, showing no ill effects from a shoulder injury that kept him out of the lineup on Friday, hit a leadoff home run in the first inning to put the Senators on track to their win against Dayton during a twilight game.
Kyle Mandoki pitched all three innings to pick up the win. The sophomore right-hander allowed just one hit and one walk, plus he struck out four.
Mandoki helped his own cause with his glove in the first inning. After Jayce Dillie singled to lead off the game, Jason McKinnon popped up a bunt attempt. Mandoki rushed off the mound and made a diving catch near the first base line, then recovered in time to flip to Gardner at first base to double off the runner.
"That was a big play," Cook said. "We'd been flat our last two games, and we looked flat in pregame, but I think Mandoki leaving his feet to make that catch gave us a lift."
The Senators came out and scored four runs in the bottom half of the first. Good drove a 1-1 pitch from Travis Wood over the right field fence to lead off the inning, Schlange reached on an error and Parsley was hit by a pitch. Osmer's long drive to in right-center was run down and caught on the warning track for the first out by McKinnon, Dayton's junior center fielder. After Gardner singled to load the bases, Skates walked to bring one run home, Alex Tanchek scored another on a sacrifice fly to right field and Jeremiah Teeter hit an RBI double down the third base line to make it 4-0.
The game was part of a building process for a young Dayton (1-2) team that only has four returning players from last year.
"We will be just fine," said Dayton coach Craig Miller, whose Dust Devils tied Tahoe-Truckee 9-9 earlier in the day (Dayton was awarded the win on a tie-breaker). "We have some good young kids in our program and we're going to continue to get better as the season goes on.
"We just flat-out got beat in this game, but I'm not going to get down on the kids," he added. "We're using these games here as a learning tool to get ready for league."
DAYTON 9, TRUCKEE 9
Even though Tahoe-Truckee pushed across four runs in the bottom of the fourth to tie the score, the Dust Devils won the tie-breaker by virtue of their 7-5 advantage in the hit column.
Jayce Dillie homered to lead off the game and ignite a four-run first inning for Dayton. Cory Cupp also doubled two runs home for the Dust Devils in the first.
Jeff Delaski doubled and scored in the fourth inning to give Dayton a 9-5 lead. Kyle Yoder also singled in the inning.
Delaski pitched the final three innings, and even though he gave up four runs in the fourth, Truckee benefited from two infield errors.
"Truckee is a league opponent. That's a team we have to be competitive with, so I was happy with the way we played," Miller said. "We made some nice adjustments from yesterday (4-1 loss against Damonte Ranch)."
JUNIOR VARSITY
Johnny Hazeltine had two huge games to help Carson reach the North Valleys Tournament championship game. Carson (2-2) beat Reed 10-0 and North Valleys 9-8 before losing to McQueen 12-1 in the finals.
Against Reed, Hazeltine was 3-for-4 with two doubles, a triple and seven RBI. Also for Carson, Drew Good was 1-for-1, Markus Adams was 2-for-4, Rob Valerius was 3-for-3 with two RBI and David Leid was 2-for-3. Kevin Holloway pitched three innings for the win and Kyle Price also pitched two scoreless innings.
Carson rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh to beat North Valleys with Steven Sawyers coming through with the game-winning two-run single. Good was 4-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI and Hazeltine was 2-for-4 with three RBI. Also for Carson, Adams was 2-for-4, Bryt Lewis was 2-for-4 with an RBI and David Leid was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI.
David Eller struck out five over four innings. Drexler Espinoza pitched 2/1 innings and Sawyers pitched the last two-thirds of an inning for the win.
Against McQueen, Leid went 2-for-2 and had Carson's only RBI, Lewis doubled and Good and Valerius each added a hit.
n Contact Dave Price at dprice@nevadaappeal.com or call 881-1220.
Monday's tournament schedule
Field 1: Fallon-Dayton, 3 p.m.; Damonte Ranch-South Tahoe, 5; Fallon-Carson, 7.