The Nevada Bighorns summer college baseball team was finally able to break through for a 6-1 win to salvage a split of a doubleheader against the San Francisco Seagulls on Saturday at Western Nevada College's John L. Harvey Field.
The Seagulls won the opener 3-1. Jesse Rasner gave the Bighorns an outstanding start in the nightcap, pitching five innings for the win. Rasner allowed one run on four hits.
Derek Mayer was also outstanding in relief as he pitched three scoreless innings for the Bighorns. Mayer allowed just one baserunner on a bloop single. Robert Lane pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the Bighorns, striking out one.
Rasner allowed one run on two hits in the first as the Seagulls took a 1-0 lead, but Rasner shut down the Seagulls for the rest of his outing.
The Bighorns took a 3-1 lead in the second on Sean Costella's two-run triple and Travis Ice's RBI single.
They added another run in the fifth when Eric Maupin singled, moved to third on Shane Kockenmeister's single and scored on an error.
In the eighth, Ryan Lane doubled and D.J. Brady hit a two-run home run for the Bighorns to finish the scoring.
Lane doubled twice, Maupin had two hits and Jay Skilton added a hit for the Bighorns.
Jeremy Gendlek was the tough luck loser for the Bighorns in the opener after pitching five shutout innings. But he ended up allowing two runs in the sixth as the Seagulls took a 2-1 lead. Gendlek received defensive help in the inning when Kevn Schlange threw out a runner trying to score from second on a single to right field. Gendlek allowed two runs while striking out seven over six innings.
Maupin allowed one run over two innings and Cavin Hill pitched a scoreless ninth, striking out one for the Bighorns.
The Bighorns took a 1-0 lead in the third when Skilton tripled and scored on Mike Stiles RBI sacrifice fly.
Skilton had two hits and Travis Ice, Matt Winter, Schlange, Sam Feiner and Jeff Young all added a hit for the Bighorns.
The Bighorns will next begin a four-game series at Humboldt, Calif., against the Humboldt Crabs, considered the West Coast's most prestigious summer college team. The series will begin at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Game notes: Stiles was hit in the helmet by a pitch near his eye in his first at bat in the nightcap. Stiles was able to walk away under his own power, but was taken to the hospital as a precaution.
For more information on the Bighorns go to www.nevadabighornbaseball.net.