Carson pounds Fallon 18-2

Carson High baseball coach Cody Farnworth admitted to being worried about facing Fallon.

He shouldn't have been.

The Senators, who got four hits and two RBI from Tommy Preston and three hits, three RBI and a 3-hit pitching performance from ace Matt Rutledge, rolled to an easy 18-2 win Thursday afternoon at Ron McNutt Field.

Carson improved to 11-2 in league and 21-5 overall.

After two come-from-behind wins Saturday against Galena, this was exactly what the doctor ordered for Carson. Farnworth took advantage of the lopsided score to empty his bench in the final two innings.

"I don't know," Farnworth said when asked if he knew what kind of pitching Fallon had left for Saturday's doubleheader. "We want to play one game at a time and get better. The kids came out and swung it. It was nice to be able to relax a bit.

"What we're looking at is getting better. We're not looking at the standings yet. That's how the kids are approaching it."

Indeed. Carson was very businesslike on Thursday. The Senators didn't whoop it up too much after they scored runs. They didn't whoop it up at the end of the game because they all knew this was a game they were supposed to win.

"It was nice," said Preston, who batted leadoff. "It was nice to be able to swing the bat and do what we did."

And, Preston proved to be the ideal table-setter with three runs scored.

"It was different (batting leadoff)," Preston said. "I was looking for first-pitch fastball on my first at-bat."

Preston ignited the Senators' four-run first inning with a single. He stole second and moved to third on Rutledge's bunt single. Rutledge stole second and both runner scored on Kyle Stone's single. Paul Cagle followed with a single and Cody Barr hit into a 5-4-3 double play, sending Stone to third. Dustin Buttner followed with a homer to make it 4-0.

"When we put up four to start the game, all the tenseness went away," Rutledge said.

Fallon pitcher Trent Blackwater hit a solo homer to right in eth top of the second off Rutledge, but Carson bounced back with four more runs in the second to make it 8-1.

Colby Blueberg struck out to lead off the second, but he reached first when catcher Willie Brewster couldn't dig the ball out of the dirt. Blueberg stole second, Tyler Smith was hit by a pitch and Preston singled to load the bases. Rutledge walked to force in a run to make it 5-1. After Stone's infield out made it 6-1, Barr cleared the bases with a two-run double and an 8-1 lead.

Fallon tacked on an unearned run in the third when Carson's defense made three errors, including two on one play.

The Senators exploded for 10 runs and 12 hits in the bottom of the third, nine of whuch were unearned after Fallon shortstop's Colton Oney's throw to first went through the webbing of Jordan Tracy's glove at first. Carson followed with eight straight hits to complete the scoring.

Rutledge worked the first four innings, allowing just three hits and striking out seven. David Perce pitched a scoreless fifth, walking two and fanning three.

"He (Rutledge) threw strikes," Farnworth said. "He kept his pitch count down. he got some work, and he needs it."

Rutledge went on three days rest after pitching Saturday night's second game. The CHS right-hander said he iced his arm Monday and Tuesday, and didn't do much throwing early in the week."