Carson baseball sweeps Wooster

RENO- Somebody should tell the Carson High baseball team it's not like it always has to come back.

As if to show they could come from behind, the Senators scuffled for six innings in their opener of a doubleheader at Wooster on Saturday. Carson trailed 8-5 going into the seventh inning when it scored five runs to pull out a 10-8 win.

The Senators (14-3, 6-0 in the Sierra League) used the momentum from their opening win to sweep the doubleheader, winning the nightcap 13-2. Markus Adams capped the winning rally with a three-run double and also had an RBI triple in the opener.

Carson has had a penchant for coming back all year, sometimes still finishing on the short end while other times pulling out the win. "One of us is going to have a heart attack before this thing is over," said Adams in a fitting statement for these cardiac kids. "Hopefully next week we won't have to do that."

Next week beginning on 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Reno, the Senators will be tested in a key three-game series against Reno High.

The Senators were trailing 8-5 going into the seventh in the opener and had been frustrated by Jeffrey Fisher-Gasper's nasty slider. But Paul Cagle opened the seventh with a single and Joe Skates eventually followed with an RBI single, making it 8-6 and chasing Fisher-Gasper

After David Leid singled and Rob Valerius walked, Kyle Stone was hit by a pitch to force in a run to make it 8-7. With Leid breaking for the plate, Adams tried to lay down a suicide squeeze.

"I ended up missing it," Adams said. "I kind of felt like I let the team down when I missed it."

Actually, Adams was able to foul off the pitch. With the count 1-2, Leid broke for the plate and Adams showed bunt again. But he pulled the bat back and swung away.

"We thought we could bring in the infield on it and hopefully pull it down the line," Adams said. "He (the pitcher) got the ball up."

Adams ended up hitting a deep flyball to centerfield. Jimmy Williams slipped trying to go back on the ball, which ended up going over his head for a three-run double to make it 10-8.

"Luckily I was able to get a hit and bring some guys in," Adams said. "Luckily he (Williams) misread it."

Adams was quick to note his heroics were made possible by his teammates who hit ahead of him. "They guys ahead of me , they had good at bats and base hits," Adams said.

Matt Rutledge, who had retired all nine batters he had faced in league coming in, got the win despite allowing three earned runs in the sixth. In the seventh, Rutledge gave up a leadoff bunt single.

But then Rutledge got a comebacker and was able to turn the double play. The game ended when centerfielder Drew Good was able to make a diving catch in shallow left center.

"We've done it all year, successfully sometimes," said Carson coach Steve Cook about coming back. "We knew we had a comeback in us."

Wooster completed its comeback in the sixth as Scott Green's RBI single gave the Colts a 6-5 lead. Rutledge then got what should have been an inning-ending double play, but Carson made the last of its four errors, allowing two runs to score to make it 8-5.

The Senators jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first on just one hit, Tony Fagan's RBI single. Carson made it 4-0 in the second on another outstanding at bat by Adams, who battled for 10 pitches before stroking an RBI triple. "Marcus Adams had two great at bats," Cook said.

But Wooster kept coming back, scoring two unearned runs in the bottom of the second to make it 4-2. Skates' RBI single made it 5-2 in the third before Wooster scored in the bottom of the third and the fourth to make it 5-4.

"The first game I though we became satisfied after we got the early lead," Cook said. "We didn't have that little nastiness that we like. That's the tradition of Wooster. They will never stop coming."

Nick Smallman pitched well for Carson, allowing just one earned run in five innings while striking out eight.

"Nick threw his heart out," Cook said. "He deserved better than what we gave him. He gave us a chance to win. He held his end of the bargain."

Along with Adams, Skates had two hits and Stone and Valerius each added a hit.

The Senators found the much harder throwing Green to their liking in the nightcap, banging out 17 hits in the game that was called after five innings. "We saw a kid that throws a good fastball," Cook said.

Carson took a 2-0 lead in the first when Bryt Lewis singled and scored on a wild pitch and David Leid, who was 3-for-3, hit an RBI single.

The Senators broke the game open with six runs in the second. Stone and Good each had RBI singles, Lewis had an RBI triple and Leid and Skates each belted RBI doubles.

In the third, Lewis, who also had three hits, hit an RBI single, Good, who had singled, scored on a wild pitch and Leid and Skates hit RBI singles to make it 12-0. Rutledge's RBI single made it 13-0 in the fourth.

Cagle, Good and Skates all had two hits and Valerius, Brett Valley and David Eller each added a hit.

Fagan pitched a complete game for the win, striking out 10 in the game that was called after five innings.

"He set the tone early for us," Cook said. "Tony does what he does. He threw hard strikes. It was a very good sweep for us."

CHS JVS SWEEP

Carson (11-4, 5-1) swept the doubleheader, winning the opener 10-2 and the nightcap 6-1. David Charles was the winning pitcher in the opener, pitching a complete game two-hitter with 11 strikeouts.

Mason Bondi had a hit and an RBI, Brooks Hutchins was 2-for-3 with two RBI, Tom Preston had two hits, Cody Barr was 2-for-2 with three RBI, Tom Purcell was 2-for-3 with two RBI and Jeff Butler had a hit and two RBI.

In the nightcap, Dustin Buttner went 4.1 innings for the win, allowing one run on five hits while striking out six. David Perce picked up the save, not allowing hit over 2.2 innings. Barr was 2-for-3 with two RBI, Butler was 2-for-3 with an RBI, Hutchins was 1-for-2 with an RBI and Nate Reno and Preston each added a hit.