Truckee edges Dayton in 3A baseball opener

DAYTON " The wind helped the Dayton Dust Devils and hurt the Dayton Dust Devils, but it had little to do with the five errors and the handful of free passes that ultimately led to their 10-6 loss Wednesday to Truckee at home.

The Dust Devils (1-3 Northern 3A, 4-5) struggled from the start as they gave up four walks to the Wolverines' first nine batters and trailed 3-1 before they knew it.

"Four walks, five errors, there's the difference," Dayton coach Jay Merrell said. "I think we hurt ourselves more than they did us."

Dayton will play Truckee in a doubleheader 11 a.m. Saturday at Moana Stadium in Reno. The game was scheduled to be played at Truckee, but field conditions caused the game to be moved.

For nearly all seven innings, the Dust Devils looked as if they were playing with a broom stick for a bat and Isotoner gloves on their hands.

In the third inning, the Dust Devils grabbed a lead-off hit from Sam Hadley to center. Connor Oliver hit a shot to right field with Halley advancing to third on a hit and run play. Connor moved to second on a throw over to third and Tim Doyle walked to load the bases. But the next three batters went down in order.

The wind started to blow out toward center field in the fourth inning with the heart of the Wolverines' lineup at the plate. Jordan Diero reached on a error from Oliver, who couldn't get the ball in his glove. Kevin Decker then hit an RBI triple and Justin Vosburgh followed with a two-run homer to center field to take a 7-2 lead.

With the wind still blowing in the bottom of the fifth, Shawn Starks traded in his broom stick for a bat. The senior came up with two outs after Doyle and Houston Bernston were both pelted by pitches and Jake Koch was walked. With one swing of the bat, the Dust Devils showed that they had some life as Starks drove a grand slam to left field that barely cleared the wall, 310 feet away, to get within one at 7-6.

"I hit through it right down the middle and I thought I popped it up," said Starks, who was 2-for-4 with four RBIs. "So I just turned my head down and ran and then once I rounded first, I saw the umpire do the around thing (with his finger)."

But that was the last of the good news for Dayton.

Bernston, the starting pitcher, felt awkward in warmups and felt a pop in the sixth inning and left the game. Truckee scored three more runs in the inning on three hits and two errors to put the game away.

Starks had one more chance to get Dayton within one as he came up with two runners on and two outs in the seventh, but struck out swinging.

"After (the home run) we were just swinging at bad pitches," Starks said. "That last out that I had, that last pitch, I shouldn't have swung.

"We've just got to practice at getting loose before a game, not tightening up and just staying loose and make the plays when they happen."