Carson baseball stays alive

RENO - Tuesday's 4-2 loss to Bishop Manogue of the High Desert League in the first round of the Northern 4A Region playoffs didn't sit too well with Carson coach Steve Cook or his players, so the Senators came out with a new attitude Wednesday.

"The kids came out on a mission," Cook said. "It was us against the world in the Carson dugout."

And the world - in this case No. 4-seeded Damonte Ranch of the Sierra League - came out on the wrong end of a 10-0 shellacking at the hands of a fired-up Carson team at Bishop Manogue High School.

Jack Jaquet pitched a five-hit shutout over six innings and Sean Costella and Royal Good belted back-to-back, first-pitch home runs in the bottom of the third inning to help Carson advance to today's losers' bracket rematch with Manogue, an 8-6 loser to High Desert League champion McQueen.

If Carson, now 23-9, can win its first game with the Miners (13-17) at noon today, it will meet McQueen, now 33-3, at 3 p.m., which it will have to beat in order to advance to Friday's semifinal round at a time and site to be determined.

Carson must advance to the finals to be one of the two teams from the north to advance to next week's Class 4A state championships.

"We had to spin a lid," said Costella, who hit a fastball over the left-field fence to open the scoring and went 2-for-3, with 2 RBI. "We had to come out hard today and forget (Tuesday). Whatever it takes to get a 'W.'"

Good, who also picked up an RBI when he was walked with the bases loaded in the eighth to put Carson up 8-0, knocked an offering from Damonte Ranch starter Jake Johnson an estimated 380-feet, over the left-center wall. Right fielder Tony Fagan's double to center made it 3-0 in the third.

"We didn't start too well (Tuesday), but we came out better today," said Good, who went 1-for 2, with two runs. "It was really important (to get off to a good start). We started slow, but we picked ourselves up."

Johnson lasted 3 2/3 innings, giving up five earned runs on five hits, while walking two and striking out four. Marcus Boundy, Donald Broderick and Jake Dosh lasted a combined 1 1/3 innings, surrendering five earned runs, three hits and seven walks in relief.

Jaquet gave up hits to the first two batters he faced and also walked one in the first, but got help from catcher Brooks Greenlee, who threw out Matt Gardner at second, and got Jose Linares and Chad Mitchell to fly out to right.

Jaquet settled down and allowed only one base runner over the next three innings. He walked three batters overall and struck out two.

"Jaquet threw a good game," Costella said. "He had a good mindset when he got off the bus. He knew what he had to do and got it done."

"I was happy with the way Jack threw on the hill today," said Cook, who made several lineup changes throughout the later innings. "We'd just got done with a very emotional game (Tuesday) and we tried to put it on them today and play good, solid baseball."

Carson tacked on four more runs in the fourth, sending eight batters to the plate.

Left fielder Jeremiah Teeter, who reached on a single, was thrown on at second on T.J. Hein's fielder's choice, but with two out, Carson poured it on.

Costella's bloop-double to right scored Hein, and Costella later scored on a Boundy wild pitch to make it 5-0. Good, who struck out on the play, reached first on the wild pitch and advanced to third on a throwing error by Mustangs catcher Chad Mitchell at second.

Greenlee walked and second baseman Logan Parsley, who finished 2-for-3, knocked in Good and Greenlee with a rocket of a double up the middle that nearly took off Boundy's head.

Up 8-0 in the sixth, Carson closed it out on an RBI-double by Kevin Schlange and when Dosh walked Teeter with the bases loaded. The 10-run mercy rule was in effect.

Cook said he was happy with the performance of the bottom of the order.

"Seven, eight and nine have been pretty good for us - especially at the end of the year," Cook said of Teeter, Hein and Costella, who went a combined 3-for-7, with a homer, three RBI and three runs. "Costella was a little fireplug for us. Once those two (Costella and Good - the leadoff batter) got it going, the rest of the team followed in line."

Good said the team did a good job of moving on after Tuesday's loss.

"Right after the game (Tuesday), it was cruddy for everyone," Good said. "But we got back into today. That was yesterday (Tuesday). We put it behind us. We live for today and tomorrow."

Costella said the Senators have some good team chemistry.

"It's our team against everybody," he said. "We don't have any 'me' guys on the team. It's just 21 guys moving in one direction. Tomorrow we have to go after it hard again. That's all we can do. We're taking it one game at a time. We believe in ourselves. We didn't doubt ourselves."

Damonte Ranch finished its season 16-17.

The Senators have lost both games to Manogue this year. They played the Miners even until the last two innings of a 9-3 loss earlier in the year. Carson shocked McQueen, 2-1, in their only meeting on May 1.