Galena baseball sweeps Fallon

RENO - The Greenwave baseball team has its hands full if it wants to make the playoffs for the first time since 1998.

Galena completed its three-game sweep over Fallon Saturday as it won 12-1 in the first game and 10-6 in the second. The Grizzlies (8-4 High Desert League) won Thursday in Fallon by the mercy rule.

"The three losses still hurt but a lot of stuff can happen in the next six games," Fallon coach Robbie Wickware said. "We still have control over what we accomplish."

After winning the series against McQueen last week, Fallon (5-7 HDL) will need to win at least one of the next two series to qualify for the playoffs but that might not be enough. With exception to Bishop Manogue, which is undefeated in the HDL, the remaining three spots are up for grabs among Spanish Springs, Galena, Reed and Fallon.

Fallon hosts second-place Spanish Springs Thursday in the first game of the series. The Wave closes the season next week with Reed.

"Spanish Springs and Reed are two really good baseball teams," Wickware said. "It all depends on what happens with the other teams in the league. If we can take four, five wins in the next week, that will help ourselves a lot."

Spanish Springs, though, has been playing well the last two weeks. The Cougars won last week's series against Galena and faced Reed over the weekend.

"We were more concerned with coming out well," Galena coach Tom Flynn said. "We haven't been hitting the ball well for a while. We started to in the third inning of Game 1 (Thursday in Fallon) and didn't stop."

Despite the first game being called by mercy rule, Wickware liked how Fallon battled back in the second game. Fallon was down 9-1 in the sixth inning before plating one run and then three in the seventh.

"The last two innings we started getting a little momentum," Wickware said. "Hopefully it will transition into next week. The kids were battling and kept a good approach at the plate to do well."

The wind played a factor in two runs in the sixth inning when Nate Stenberg drilled a single into left field. Galena's left and centerfielders misplayed the ball, allowing it to roll to the fence that scored Trevor de Braga and Stenberg.

De Braga also drove in two runs when he tripled to right-center field in the seventh inning. Stenberg's RBI groundout gave Fallon its third run of the inning.