Three was a key number for Carson High's Matt Rutledge.
Rutledge allowed only three hits in four innings of work, and went 3-for-3 and drove in three runs to lead the Senators to an easy 16-2 win over South Tahoe in the Sierra League baseball opener for both schools at Ron McNutt Field.
The game was called after five innings because of the 10-run rule.
The teams will meet again Saturday in a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. Carson will send David Charles and Tyler Smith to the mound against Kyle Digrande and Matt Blank.
The senior right-hander threw 80 pitches before turning the ball over to Conner Beattie, who allowed an unearned run in the fifth on two infield errors.
"I was a little tight (early)," said Rutledge, who didn't seem concerned about his pitch count. "I came out and tried to throw strikes. I'm normally a little wild. At the beginning they were sitting on first pitch fastball."
Rutledge had to work from behind early on, but was able to take advantage of Tahoe's lack of aggressiveness at the plate. Five of his six strikeouts were called third strikes.
Cody Farnworth, Carson's first-year coach, was pleased with Rutledge's performance, and getting the league season started right.
"I think he struggled early with control," Farnworth said. "He's a competitor. We'll work on getting his pitch count down. He's swinging it really well. Any time you help yourself as a pitcher (it's big).
"I'm happy to get the win. We made some mistakes. We missed some signs; missed some bunts. We're getting better every game. That's what we're striving for."
Mistakes or not, Carson had a very easy time of it, especially after scoring 10 runs in the second inning. South Tahoe hasn't done much outside work, and it shows, though coach Matt Tillson refused to use it as an excuse.
"We seemed a little nervous and I don't know why," Tillson said. "We didn't play with much confidence. This is a resilient team. It will bounce back.
"We haven't (been on the field much), but we don't use that as an excuse. It's not an issue. We didn't play good ball today.
Carson took a 2-0 lead in the first off starter/loser Max Delallo, using a single, a wild pitch and double steal.
Then it got ugly for South Tahoe in the second when Carson exploded for 10 runs and seven hits to stretch its lead to 12-0. The key blow was an off-field homer to right-center field by Cody Barr.
South Tahoe got on the board in the third on Chris Ewing's run-scoring single, but Carson scored twice to make it 14-1 on a two-run single by Rutledge.
Barr and Cameron Mayville collected two hits apiece for Carson, while Kyle Stone, Tyler Hutchins, Colby Blueberg and Smith added a hit apiece.
- Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling 775-881-1281
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