Rallies not enough for Bighorns

The Nevada Bighorns summer college baseball team made two comebacks on Saturday against the Southern Oregon Riverdawgs of Medford at Western Nevada College's John L. Harvey Field.

But the Bighorns needed to make three comebacks to pull off the sweep of the doubleheader. The Bighorns ended up settling for a split, winning the opener 5-4 before falling in the nightcap 7-6. The Bighorns overcame a 4-1 deficit in the opener and also overcame a 3-0 deficit to take a 4-3 lead in the nightcap, but couldn't hold on.

The Bighorns are now 6-12 in the WCL Tri-State League while the Riverdawgs are now 9-6 in league.

In the opener, Jesse Rasner pitched five innings for the win. Travis Ice singled, stole second and scored on Eric Maupin's single to give the Bighorns a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

Rasner ran into trouble in the second after he appeared to have the leadoff batter struck out on an 0-2 pitch that was called a ball.

Rasner went on to allow a single and another bloop single kept the rally going. A run scored on a groundball and then Rasner walked three straight to force in two runs that gave the Riverdawgs a 3-1 lead.

Rasner allowed an RBI single in the third that gave the Riverdawgs a 4-1 lead.

The Bighorns began their comeback in the third on Ryan Lane's RBI single that made it 4-2.

In the fourth, Adam Anderson singled and then pinch runner Brett Lisher scored on Shane Kockenmeister's RBI double to pull the Bighorns to within 4-3. Royal Good followed by hitting a shot to left center field. The ball appeared to be trapped, but was ruled a catch and Kockemeister was doubled off for a double play.

In the fifth, Jay Skilton led off with a home run to tie the score 4-4 with the Bighorns. Maupin, Sam Feiner and Jeff Young were all then hit by a pitch  and Lane followed with an RBI single give the Bighorns a 5-4 lead.

The Bighorns still had the bases with no outs, but failed to score any runs. But it didn't matter as Robert Lane pitched two shutout innings for the save, although not without some difficulty.

Lane allowed the first two hitters he faced to reach base in the sixth as he walked a batter and hit the next batter. He then retired the next three batters.

In the seventh, a single, sacrifice bunt, wild pitch and an intentional walk gave the Riverdawgs runners at first and third with one out. But Lane got a strikeout and a flyball to end the game.

Skilton also had a double to give him two hits and Ryan Lane had two hits as well. Jeff Young added a hit for the Bighorns.

In the nightcap, Ryan Shepherd allowed a solo home run and a bloop, bad-hop two-run triple that gave the Riverdawgs a 3-0 lead after three innings. The Bighorns went on to take a 4-3 lead in the fifth. Maupin singled and Feiner and Skilton each walked before Lisher was hit by a pitch to force in a run.

The Bighorns scored another run on an error and Ray Barratt followed with an RBI single. Matt Winter was then walked to force in a run to give the Bighorns the lead.

Shepherd gave the Bighorns 5.2 solid innings before tiring as the Rivedawgs scored four runs all with two outs to take a 7-4 lead. Blake Nahlem came on and retired all four batters he faced, striking out the side in the seventh.

In the bottom of the sixth, Good walked to force in a run to make it 7-5. In the seventh, Winter launched a shot well over the left field fence to make it 7-6, but that's the way the game ended.

Kockenmeister, Sean Costella and Feiner all added a hit for the Bighorns. The Bighorns will next play at 1 p.m. Monday in Sacramento against the Sacramento Red Sox.