After losing to Carson early in season, Miners roll to win

When the Carson Senators and Manogue Miners met Tuesday on Ken Rupert Night at Ron McNutt Field, it was all about command and control.

The Miners, who at 12-0 are in command of the High Desert League, took a 14-2 victory over the Senators, who had no control on the mound.

The Miners, 19-5 overall, banged out 10 hits off starter Stephen Sawyers, David Eller and David Charles to end the game after five innings due to the 10-run mercy rule.

The Manogue victory avenged a 10-8 loss to Carson on March 13.

"It's always nice to beat a friend," Miners coach Charles Oppio said with a smile in reference to Carson coach Steve Cook and the Senators' preseason win. "Our team played well. Ben [Hewson] was the highlight for me."

Hewson, who improved to 4-1, spread out five hits, walked one and struck out two in going the distance.

"Ben struggled last week," Oppio said. "He wanted the ball tonight and he turned around and did great."

So did senior shortstop Joe Wieland, who went 3-for-3, with two home runs and five runs batted in.

"I'm tired of talking about Wieland," Oppio said with a laugh. "No, he's done it all year for us."

Manogue took a 3-0 lead after Wieland's first-inning homer and an RBI single by Damon Elder and a sacrifice fly by Tim Lewis in the third.

Carson closed the gap to 3-2 in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by Paul Cagle and an RBI double by Jeff Butler, but the Miners erupted for nine runs in the fourth, sending 13 batters to the plate.

Wieland's two-run round-tripper in the fifth capped off Manogue's scoring.

"We had an off-night," said Cook, whose Senators fell to 16-11. "[The Miners] have a good baseball team. They can put you in a rut real quick if you don't come to play.

"We didn't play our best. We'll take it as a learning experience. We'll try and fix it before North Valleys comes to town. We're not going to dwell on this."

What the Senators will be focusing on, Cook said, is how it concludes its remaining nine Sierra League games.

The Senators finish up against North Valleys, South Tahoe and Wooster, each of whom is under .500.

"It sounds pretty easy - go out and win them all," Cook said. "The hard part is going out and winning them all. North Valleys is not going to give us three games because we're Carson and they're not. Neither is South Tahoe or Wooster."

Kyle Stone led the Senators offensively, going 2-for-3 and scored one run.

Carson will host North Valleys on Thursday at 3:30 p.m., before traveling to Golden Valley for a doubleheader with the Panthers beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

"The kids know what they have to do in order to get better," Cook said.

Manogue will have a bye week and travel to play Mission San Jose on Friday and Saturday before finishing up High Desert League play with series against Galena and Spanish Springs.

MANOGUE JVS 16, CARSON 0

The Senators slipped to 11-12 overall and 4-8 in Sierra League play. Cody Tucker, Jeff Davies, Cameron Mayville, Don Mariani and John Tucker each had one hit for Carson.

James Lewandowski, Anthony Torkeo and Davies each saw action on the mound for the Senators.