Senators baseball drops Miners

Senators baseball drops Miners

Appeal Staff Report

The Carson Senators jumped on top of the Manogue Miners early then kept up the offensive pressure, notching 16 hits to take a 10-8 victory Thursday in the Manogue Tournament at Bishop Manogue High School.

Cody Barr went 2-for-4 at the dish and then earned his first save of the season, retiring three batters after David Charles gave up a home run and a base hit in the bottom of the seventh, when the Miners closed the gap to 10-8.

Starter Matt Rutledge (1-0) picked up his first win of the season, spreading out five runs, six hits and six walks in five innings. Tyler Hutchins got one out and loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth before Charles forced two outs to end the inning.

The Senators, who improved to 7-3 on the season, never trailed, going up 4-0 in the first. Kyle Stone singled in leadoff batter Drew Good, who singled, stole second and advanced to third on a Markus Adams grounder, for the first run.

Junior catcher Paul Cagle (2-for-4) had a strong day both behind and at the plate, bringing in Stone with a double to make it 2-0. Cagle would also throw out runners at all three bases during the game.

Senior Rob Valerius followed with a line-drive homer to make it 4-0 and give the Senators some much needed momentum.

"It was a good day for us," Carson coach Steve Cook said. "We're believing we can beat upper-crust teams. We haven't been beating 4A teams regularly. We lost to Galena twice and Fallon before we beat Reed (on Wednesday). Manogue is one of the best teams on that side (in the High Desert League)."

Manogue came back to trim the lead to 4-2 in the second, but Carson answered in the third. Cagle was hit by a pitch, Valerius followed with a double and Barr grounded out to score Cagle.

Brett Valley's single brought in Valerius to make it 6-2. Valerius finished 2-for-4.

The Miners came back with another run in the bottom of the third, but again Carson had an answer.

Stone (3-for-5) tripled in Good (who walked) and Adams (2-for-5, who doubled) to give the Senators an 8-3 lead.

The Miners' Joe Weiland drilled a two-run home in the bottom of the fourth and Manogue added another run in the fifth to make it 8-6.

A Cagle RBI single scored Stone in the sixth and Tommy Preston (2-for-4) stayed hot and singled in Valley (2-for-4) to give the Senators a 10-6 lead going into the bottom of the seventh.

Carson will look to stay on the winning track today when it meets McQueen in the Manogue Tournament. The game begins at 3:30 p.m. at Manogue High School.