The Western Nevada Community College baseball team struggled in two areas it normally excels - defense and throwing strikes - and the end result was a 10-5 loss to the Reno Astros on Friday at Moana Stadium.
"We played poor defense," said WNCC coach D.J. Whittemore, whose team made five errors. "We walked to many guys."
Manny Olivera, who recently finished up with the Double A Carolina Mudcats, pitched five innings to pick up the win for the Astros. Chuck Howard had an outstanding game for WNCC, catching the entire contest.
He threw out two runners trying to steal second and had three hits. "He did a heckuva job," Whittemore said.
Carson's Logan Parsley also had an outstanding game at second, making diving catch of a popup in shallow right field. Kyle Bondurant started at shortstop and Carson's Kevin Schlange started at third for the Wildcats.
Parsley also had two hits. Brad Carlsen had a double and Anthony Garcia added a hit.
WNCC trailed 6-5 in the bottom of the eighth inning when the Astros used a leadoff error to score four runs.
The two teams will play a doubleheader at Moana Stadium, beginning at noon today. Whittemore said Stephen Sauer, Cole Rohrbough and Dan Grubbs will all pitch in the opener. "I expect us to do a lot better," Whittemore said.