Cardinals have wild day, settle for split

It was a wild day for the Carson Cardinals as they settled for the split at the Joe DiMaggio State Tournament.

Carson overcame a 9-3 deficit and scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat the Sparks Bombers 12-11. But then Carson couldn't hold an 8-1 lead and lost to the Douglas Tigers when the Tigers scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh for a 12-11 win. Carson will play at 9:30 a.m. Saturday in an elimination game at Wooster.

Against Sparks, Markus Adams hit a game-winning two-run double to complete Carson's rally in the seventh. Adams had three hits and four RBI.

Tony Fagan began the rally with a double and Drew Good eventually drew a walk that forced in a run that made it 11-9. Matt Rutledge followed with an RBI single before Adams' game-winning hit.

Carson took a 3-2 lead in the first when Adams singled and Bryt Lewis, Fagan and Kyle Mandoki all followed with RBI singles.

Down 9-3 in the fifth, Carson began its comeback when Fagan and Mandoki hit back-to-back home runs. Fagan's homer was a two-run shot as the Cardinals climbed to within 9-6.

Fagan and Mandoki both had two hits, two runs and two RBI. Mandoki came into the game in the fourth inning and shut down Sparks to pick up the win.

Against Douglas, Carson led 8-1 going into the bottom of the fifth when the Tigers scored seven runs to tie the score 8-8. Carson went back up 11-8 before Douglas scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh for the win.

Lewis was 4-for-5 with two runs and two RBI, Fagan had a hit and an RBI, Mandoki had a hit, three RBI and two runs and Good had a hit and three RBI.