Bighorns pillage Pirates in doubleheader sweep

Appeal Staff Report

Jesse Rasner gave the Nevada Bighorns summer college baseball team another solid start in the opener and the Bighorns came back to win the nightcap on their way to a sweep of a doubleheader against the NorCal Pirates on Saturday at Western Nevada College's John L. Harvey Field.

The Bighorns won the opener 12-3 and overcame a 9-3 deficit to win the nightcap 13-12.

In the opener, Bryan Barrington's RBI double gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead but the Bighorns scored all 12 of their runs in the third to take a 12-1 lead. Royal Good led off with a home run and after Tony Teixeira singled, Aaron Henry followed with a two-run shot to make it 3-1. Ray Barratt, Tommy O'Brien and Marshall Kennebrew all had RBI singles, Teixeira added a double and Henry and Kevin Schlange each added an RBI double during the rally.

Rasner ended up allowing three runs through six innings and striking out five before Nick Smallman pitched a scoreless seventh. Henry, Teixeira, O'Brien and Schlange all had two hits and Shane Kockenmeister added a hit for the Bighorns.

In the nightcap, Ryan Shepard labored through five innings to pick up the win, allowing nine runs while striking out six. The Pirates jumped out to a 4-0 lead on two RBI singles by Casey Dill and Barrington's two-run double.

The Pirates struck for five more runs in the third to take a 9-3 lead. The inning ended on a two-run single that made it 9-3 when Henry, from centerfield, nailed a runner trying to advance from first to third.

Schlange doubled and Kennebrew hit an RBI single to make it 9-4 in the bottom of the third. Teixeira's RBI single made it 9-5 in the fourth.

The Bighorns struck for seven runs in the fifth to take a 12-9 lead. Kennebrew had an RBI single, Barratt had an RBI sacrifice fly, Jonathan Silva hit an RBI single, Teixeira had a two-run double and Henry and Schlange each hit RBI singles during the rally.

Blake Nahlem came on in the sixth and the Pirates went on to load the bases against him with no outs. Nahlem got a double play as a run scored, but then Brandon Clayton followed with an RBI single to make it 12-11.

After Mark Piland singled and a Nahlem wild pitch, the Pirates had runners at second and third. But then Schlange made a diving stop of a ball up the middle from shortstop and threw the runner out at first to end the inning and rob the Pirates of a two-run single that would have given them the lead.

Kockenmeister singled and O'Brien hit an RBI triple that made it 13-11 in the bottom of the sixth.

In the seventh, Kris Server, who went 4-for-5, hit an RBI double to pull the Pirates to within 13-12. But the Nahlem struck out Barrington, who had three hits, to end the game. Nahlem ended up striking out two over two innings to pick up the save.

Schlange, Kennebrew and Teixeira all had two hits, Silva added an RBI sacrifice fly and Good added a hit. The Bighorns and Pirates will finish their three-game series at noon today at John L. Harvey Field.