Carson baseball wins two on opening day

Another opening day for the Carson High baseball team and a little bit of everything that could be expected.

First game jitters, a little bit of sloppiness, but overall a solid first day. But there was also one huge drawback on the day as catcher Cody Bone sustained an apparent season-ending injury when he suffered a broken finger.

Carson struggled to beat Truckee 7-4 in its opener, but came back and looked much more impressive in a 10-0 win over Lassen on Thursday in its preseason tournament at Ron McNutt Field. The Senators picked up an extra game in the tournament as they will play Lowry at 9 a.m. today at Ron McNutt Field and then will play Fernley at 7 p.m. tonight at McNutt Field.

Bone went 2-for-3 against Truckee, but his season apparently came to an end when he broke his finger trying to bunt. Bone actually went on to hit an RBI single after breaking his finger to provide for Carson's final run.

"It was an emotional hit losing a kid like that," Carson coach Steve Cook said. "He worked his butt off to get some legitimate playing time."

The Senators had all they could handle from Truckee, which should be one of the top teams to beat in the Northern 3A.

"I think we were a little overexcited today to play Truckee," Cook said. "We were pressing a lot. We were just trying to do way too much."

Stephen Sawyers allowed just two hits through four innings for Carson, but struggled somewhat with his control and mainly because he issued four walks, he was touched for three runs. Sawyers also struck out four.

Carson took a 1-0 lead without the benefit of a hit against Kevin Sahlberg, who went the distance for the Wolverines. In the first, Markus Adams was hit by a pitch, stole second, went to third in a bad pickoff throw and scored on a wild pitch.

Truckee answered in the second without the benefit of a hit when Michael Taylor's sacrifice fly tied the score 1-1. In the bottom of the second after Rob Valerius was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a Brett Valley sacrifice bunt, Valerius scored on Bone's single to give Carson a 2-1 lead.

Kevin Decker's two-run single gave Truckee a 3-2 lead in the third. In the fourth, Sawyers was able to work around two errors that gave Truckee runners at first and third with one out. Sawyers picked off his second runner of the game at first and then got a strikeout to end the threat.

Sahlberg deserved better in the fourth, but Carson took advantage of four errors to take a 5-3 lead. After Valley's RBI groundout, Bone was hit by a pitch, Jeff Butler walked and Tommy Preston reached on a bunt single to spark the continued rally in which Carson scored two more runs.

Sophomore David Charles came on and was impressive in his three innings of work for the Senators, striking out four. Charles shouldn't have given up a run, but some fast and loose infield defense by the Senators when they allowed runners to take extra bases allowed Truckee to cut the deficit to 5-4.

In the bottom of the fifth, Kyle Stone doubled and scored on Valerius' single before Valerius scored on Bone's single. Good added two hits for Carson and Sahlberg had two hits for Truckee.

CARSON 10, LASSEN 0

Valerius pitched a one-hit shutout, striking out five in the game that was called after four innings due to the 10-run rule.

"Rob did a very good job and our sticks came alive," Cook said. "We were able to stay back and get soem good swings on the bat today."

Valerius allowed the first two runners to reach. The only hit he allowed came on a leadoff single to begin the game and then he walked the next batter. But Valerius got a strikeout and a double play to end the threat.

Carson struck for six runs in the first. Paul Cagle hit a two-run single, Valerius hit a two-run double, Cody Barr hit an RBI double and Preston followed with an RBI single. Carson made it 7-0 on Good's RBI single in the third.

Cagle began the fourth with a towering home run to left. After Valerius singled, Barr almost ended the game with a shot off the left centerfield fence, settling for an RBI double. Valley then ended the game with an RBI double.

Cagle, Barr and Valerius all had two hits and Adams and Stone each added a hit for Carson.

"We looked a lot better," Cook said. "Overall I was just happy with the way the day went."

GALENA 14, LASSEN 1

Jacob Anderson was one out away from a perfect game in the fifth inning before allowing a triple and a bloop single before striking out the next batter to end the game.

CHS JVS WIN TWO

Carson beat Truckee's JVs 16-14 and Lassen's JVs 9-8. Against Truckee, Cameron Mayville went 4-for-5 with a three-run home run, Connor Beattie was 3-for-5 with a triple, Collin Grischott had three hits, Adam Whitt and Jeff Davies each had two hits and Bryce Altus added a hit. Beattie picked up the win, allowing three runs over four innings.

Against Lassen, Davies wsa 3-for-3 with two doubles, Beattie had three hits, Mayville and James Lewandowski each had two hits, including a double and Dom Mariani and Davild Feltner each added two hits. Mayville allowed five runs over six innings for the win.