Carson baseball ready for playoffs

The trajectory of the streaking Carson Senators baseball team can be traced back to April 12, two days after it dropped an 8-6 decision to Damonte Ranch at Carson High School.

Carson, which opens today's NIAA Northern 4A regional championships on the road against two-time defending zone champ Galena, was 5-5 in the Sierra League and in need of a big boost.

Trailing the Mustangs 4-3 with two outs in the seventh inning at Damonte Ranch High School, senior shortstop Markus Adams, playing with a crushed nose since the preseason, timed Cody Stevens in his windup and stole home to tie the game.

Junior Tommy Preston added a two-run double, Carson found a closer in junior David Perce and the Senators went on to win the game 6-4 before taking the back end of the twinbill, 11-10.

That doubleheader launched a Carson surge that saw the team win 10-of-11 of its final Sierra League games and 11-of-13 overall, with its only hiccups coming against South Tahoe and High Desert League champion Manogue.

"From that game on, as a team we realized we could beat anyone," said Adams, who is second on the team with a .477 league batting average. "Damonte Ranch was so strong before. Cookie (Carson coach Steve Cook) has been telling us all year that we've been this close to being a good team. That confirmed it."

That Carson is playing team baseball and seems to be peaking at the right time bodes well as it opens the playoffs.

"It's a good thing to see the boys buying in to what we're selling every day," Cook said. "They're believing it. It makes you feel good as a coaching staff. We seem to be playing our best baseball at the end of the year. It's not how you start; it's how you finish. We had a decent start. We're hoping for a good finish."

The Senators, 25-12 overall, finished 15-6 in league, good enough for third place and a shot at the High Desert League's No. 2 seed, Galena. The Grizzlies, 25-7-1 overall, won all three of their meetings with Carson (7-6, 12-4 and 6-3) before March 16.

"Galena is a good baseball team. They're starting to come around and play like Galena does every year," Cook said. "They're starting to show their true colors. That's a baseball team that's hard to beat. We have to play some good team baseball and come out on top.

"Playoff ball is a different beast. You have to play it like there's no tomorrow, because there ain't."

"It's always good to get hot at the end of the season," said Carson's leading hitter, junior catcher Paul Cagle, who is hitting .492, with four homers (six overall) and 25 runs batted in. "We've got to try and keep the momentum going through zone. We take it one game at a time and try to get a little bit better every day.

"Right now, if we play our game and play errorless baseball, we can be a good baseball team. We're starting to see the ball pretty well. We're looking pretty good."

A pair of juniors - third baseman Kyle Stone and second baseman Brett Valley - have also been hot at the dish. Stone is hitting .433 and Valley .423.

The Senators' pitching has been heating up as well. Senior Rob Valerius (3-1) struck out nine batters in pitching a seven-inning complete game in a 4-1 victory over the Colts on Thursday.

Valerius, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound left-hander, is expected to face Galena ace Jacob Anderson, who will play for the Nevada Wolf Pack next year.

The Senators also got a combined seven scoreless innings from starter Stephen Sawyers and David Eller in a 1-0 victory over Wooster on Wednesday. Sawyers, a lefty, who has been fighting through an elbow injury all season, went five innings before Eller (4-1) came in for two innings of relief.

Junior Matt Rutledge pitched a two-hit complete game in Carson's five-inning 11-1 victory over the Colts on Saturday. In addition, the Senators' bullpen is well rested and Perce and reliever David Charles are capable of switching roles if need be.

Dustin Buttner and Tyler Smith have also had good outings and can eat up some innings as well.

The Carson pitching staff will have its work cut out for it against Anderson (18 RBI), Scott Underwood (.500, 16 RBI, nine doubles), Jake Hess (.442, 17 runs scored), Josh Evans (.441), Eric Underwood (eight doubles), Pete Lazzari (20 runs scored) and Bryan Pointer (10 walks).

"They have tough outs up and down the lineup," Cook said of the Grizzlies.

Carson has gone 2-2 in each of the last two postseasons and was eliminated by Galena, 10-3, in 2007.

None of this has affected the confidence of either Adams or Cagle.

"We're excited. We know we can play with any team in the North," Adams said. "If we go out there, if we don't worry about the names on their chest, we'll be OK. It's whoever shows up that day."

"We're never scared to play anybody," Cagle said. "We've just got to go out and play our game and have fun."

In other action today, Sierra League No. 1 seed Reno hosts Spanish Springs, High Desert League No. 1 seed Manogue hosts Damonte Ranch and No. 2 Sierra League seed Douglas hosts Reed.

All games begin at 3:30 p.m.

The survivor of Carson-Galena faces the Reno-Spanish Springs winner Wednesday at Damonte Ranch High School, beginning at 4 p.m., with the loser's bracket game starting at 1 p.m.

The winner of Manogue-Damonte Ranch will meet the Douglas-Reed winner Wednesday at Bishop Manogue High School at 4 p.m., with the loser's bracket game beginning at 1 p.m.