Carson baseball falls to Reno

RENO - Carson High received an excellent pitching performance from Josh Caron and played solid defense.

The offense was nowhere to be found, however, as Reno's Garrett Luippold scattered four hits and fanned eight to lead the Huskies to a 4-0 victory over the Senators Wednesday afternoon at Zunini Field in a Sierra League baseball game.

The win clinched the league title for the Huskies, who are now 19-0 in league, while second-place Carson fell to 15-4. The teams continue their three-game series today at 3:30 at Ron McNutt Field.

Luippold, a junior, finished the regular season by not allowing an earned run over his last 41 innings. Save for the fifth inning when the Senators got a runner to third with one out, he was never in any trouble.

"Luippold threw pretty good," Carson coach Steve Cook said. "I thought Josh (Caron) pitched a heckuva game. He made one mistake; that homer. He was trying to throw a fastball up and in and he missed his location. He left it all on the field.

"We think we can play with anybody in the north. It's never a question with our team. Our execution and desire have been questionable (at times). I liked our demeanor in the dugout and our approach at the plate."

The pitch Cook was referring to came in the third when Reno's John Rice hit an 0-2 pitch well over the fence in left-center field to snap a scoreless game and give the Huskies a 2-0 lead. The runs were unearned because of a throwing error on Tim Moore's grounball which kept the inning alive.

Those early runs were more than enough for Luippold, who said he threw approximately 35 to 40 percent breaking pitches against the Senators.

"Garrett obviously is a very exceptional pitcher," Reno coach Pete Savage said. "He gives us an outstanding effort everytime out. He had great command of all of his pitches."

Carson threatened in the fifth when Brooks Greenlee bounced a double just inside the bag at third. He moved over to third on Jeremiah Teeter's infield roller.

Cook put on the squeeze on the first pitch to T.J. Hein, who fouled it back into the screen. Hein eventually struck out and Sean Costella grounded to short to end the inning.

Did Cook think about having Hein squeeze a second time?

"He's been swinging the bat well," Cook said. "I wanted to drive him (Greenlee) in. I was going to squeeze with two strikes, but T.J. hopped back into the box too quick."

Savage wasn't surprised by the squeeze attempt.

"I know they play that (short) game well," the Reno coach said. "I expected that."

Luippold retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced to finish the game. He seemed to rise to the occasion whenever Carson put runners on, which wasn't often.

"He has a tough mental game," Savage said. 'He's tough mentally. He does not want to give up a run. For a left-hander, his velocity is very good (86-87 mph)."

It's a good thing Luippold was that good, because Caron certainly deserved a better fate. He fanned two and walked five, and except for the homer in the third and two runs in the sixth, he had no trouble with the Huskies.

Caron walked Rice, fanned Davis Banks and walked Alex Gardner to start the sixth. Mike Brown followed with a single up the middle, scoring Rice to make it 3-0. Rob Valerius came on and retired Brad Bus on a foul pop-up to first, but pinch-hitter Jon Dankworth singled between third and short to score Gardner with the Huskies' fourth run.

"He (Caron) was absolutely outstanding," Savage said of Caron. "He kept us off balance. He had command of all three pitches which made it tough."

That's good news for Carson heading into next week's zone playoffs.

Notes: Jack Jacquet will start today for the Senators with Kyle Mandoki to start Friday's game in Reno ... Carson's first-round zone game will be at noon next Tuesday or Wednesday at Bishop Manogue against the third-place High Desert finisher, which could be Manogue.