Galena outlasts Carson baseball

RENO - There aren't exactly any secrets in the Northern Nevada baseball community and Galena senior third baseman Jake Hess and his fellow Grizzlies have been hearing the gossip floating around local fields this season

"There's been a lot of talk of us going downhill," Hess said of the two-time defending zone champion Grizz. "Since the last two series of the season (Galena took two of three games against High Desert League champion Manogue and swept Elko), we've picked it up a lot."

That trend continued Tuesday as the Grizzlies pounded out 11 hits in rallying for a 12-8 victory over the Carson Senators in the opening round of the NIAA Northern 4A regional championships at Galena High School.

The victory improved Galena, which finished second behind Manogue, to 26-7-1 and advanced them into today's winner's bracket match with Sierra League champion Reno, a 9-4 victor over Spanish Springs.

The Senators fell to 25-13 and will meet the Cougars in the loser's bracket at 1 p.m. today. Carson-Spanish Springs and Galena-Reno, which begins at 4 p.m., will both be held at Damonte Ranch High School.

Hess went 2-for-3 on the day with four runs batted in. He drilled a three-run homer off Carson starter Rob Valerius to give Galena a 7-5 lead in the fourth inning and added an RBI single off reliever Tyler Smith to give the Grizzlies the go-ahead run and a 9-8 lead in the sixth.

"I haven't been seeing many fastballs," said the 5-foot-11, 225-pound Hess, who also played basketball and football for the Grizzlies. "Finally I got to see one and put a good swing on it."

"(Pitching coach Scott) Albin and I had a debate about (Valerius) throwing the fastball," said Carson coach Steve Cook. "We tried to sneak it by him, but it was down a little more than we would've liked and (Hess) got it over. That three-run bomb was the difference in the game."

Galena got off to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, which saw Carson commit two of its four errors, but the Senators rallied for five runs over the next two innings.

Right fielder Matt Rutledge grounded out to second to score junior catcher Paul Cagle in the first, making it 2-1. Carson touched up Galena starter Jacob Anderson for four more runs in the third.

Brett Valley singled, shortstop Markus Adams walked and third baseman Kyle Stone singled to load the bases with one out. Cagle's RBI single scored Valley and first baseman Cody Barr (2-for-2 with three RBI) cleared the bases with a double, giving Carson a 5-2 lead.

Anderson, who will play for the Nevada Wolf pack next season, gave up eight hits, eight runs, four walks and struck out six, but had a good day at the plate, going 1-for-3 with four RBI.

His first-inning groundout made it 2-0, his third-inning walk with the bases juiced brought in Pete Lazzari to make it 5-3, and his two-RBI double in the sixth gave the Grizzlies an 11-8 lead.

First baseman Erik Underwood's fielder's choice cut Carson's lead to 5-4 in the third before Hess' blast gave Galena the lead in the fourth.

"Our offense really stepped up today," the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Anderson said. "We found a way to get hits and our guys found a way to score some runs."

One of those guys was Anderson, of course.

"My first couple at bats I didn't feel too good, but the last two I stayed back and hit the ball hard," he said.

Underwood walked one and struck out three in two innings of scoreless relief.

The Senators didn't go quietly. Valerius singled in Cagle and Rutledge (1-for-3, three RBI) hit a two-run double to put Carson up 8-7 in the top of the fifth before Underwood scored on an error to tie it in the bottom of the inning. Galena scored on a wild pitch in the sixth to make it 12-8 and round out the scoring.

"Our guys battled today, but we came up on the short end of the stick," Cook said. "Those instant rallies kill you. The walks and doubles kill you. That's a good baseball team there. They've won zone the last couple of years, so it's no mistake. We'll get back after it tomorrow."

Cook said Valerius fought through an undisclosed problem in Monday's practice and Tuesday's game.

"Robbie was a little dehydrated and he got dizzy on the hill," Cook said. "We pumped him full of Gatorade and got him back out there. He came back and battled. He wouldn't tell anyone what was wrong. He wanted to battle it out. I know he's a senior, and even though I didn't want to, I had to take him out of there. The safety of the player comes first."

Valerius surrendered eight runs (five earned), six hits and four walks in four-plus innings. Smith gave up three runs and four hits in one-plus inning of relief and David Charles pitched one inning, giving up one hit and one run.

Cook said he'd likely start Rutledge today against Spanish Springs.

In other action, Douglas beat Reed, 6-5 and Manogue topped Damonte Ranch, 10-9. Manogue will host Douglas in the winner's bracket matchup today at 4 p.m. and Reed and Damonte Ranch will meet in the loser's bracket at 1 p.m. at Bishop Manogue High School.