Cardinals fall to Knights in championship game

at first and third, Savage put on the squeeze, but Stanford missed the sign. Instead, he was caught straying too far off first. Charles threw over and Stanford was caught in a rundown. He was tagged out by Cody Barr, who did a nice job of sneaking up behind Stanford.

"He (Stanford) should have been going back to the base," Savage said. "Every baserunner counts. That's what we talked about after the game. We didn't do a very good job of running the bases. We got picked off a couple of times. They did a good job of controlling our running game."

Cagle threw out three runners trying to steal.

Meanwhile, the Carson offense was nowhere to be found through the first three innings. Of the first nine outs recorded, seven were by strikeout and four of those were on called third strikes.

"I talked to the guys after the third inning and said that their guy had a no-hitter," Albin said. "He was mainly throwing a fastball. Our guys can hit. I told them to jump on the fastball and go to work."

Carson broke loose for four runs and five hits in the fourth to take a 4-3 lead.

An error by Reno shortstop Austin Wood on Tommy Preston's groundball started the barrage. Preston moved to second on a single by Kyle Stone and scored on Cagle's single to right-center field. Barr made it 3-2 with a single between third and short to score Stone. Matt Rutledge executed a sacrifice bunt, sending Cagle to third and Barr to second.

Jameson got a strikeout, but Tyler Smith lined a two-run single to right to make it 4-3. Smith made it all the way around to third when Stanford let the ball get through him. Jameson fanned Tyler Hutchins looking to end the inning.

"Carson is a quality team," Savage said. "They did make adjustments. With Stone and Cagle in the middle of the lineup ... Jameson competed well on the mound. He had a little trouble in the fourth."

Jameson retired six of the next seven he faced over his next two innings of work before departing the game. He finished with 11 strikeouts, a hit batter and one walk.

Charles, who walked eight and hit a batter, walked the first two hitters he faced in the fifth and both scored.

With runners at second and third, Stanford was safe on Stone's error, loading the bases. Simpson drove in the tying and go-ahead runs with a single to left to make it 5-4.

Charles exited in favor of David Perce, who went 2-0 on the next batter before signaling Albin that he would be unable to continue. Hutchins came in and walked that batter and the next one, forcing home a run. Wallace followed with a potential inning-ending double play ball whic was mishandled, allowing two more runs to score to make it 8-4.

Jameson and Cavin Hill held the Cardinals without a run in the sixth and seventh to end the game.