Carson rips Wooster in playoff opener

For three innings it looked like Carson High was headed for its fourth straight baseball loss.

Nine batters had faced Jordan Lewis and nobody had come close to a hit. And, ace Matt Rutledge was out of sync and got touched for three quick runs.

Carson finally woke up from its slumber, scoring five in the third, three on a Cody Barr homer, and five more in the sixth en route to an 11-5 win in the first round of the Northern 4A playoffs at Ron McNutt Field.

The game was marred by the ejections of Wooster head coach Ron Malcolm and one of his assistants in the sixth. Both argued a balk call by first base umpire Chris Wittbeck. Malcolm was tossed by plate umpire Steve Fisher and the assistant was sent packing by Wittbeck after a profanity laced tirade from the dugout. Both will miss the Colts' game today against Bishop Manogue while the serve a mandatory one-game suspension.

The victory sends Carson, the No. 2 seed out of the Sierra League, against perennial powerhouse Reno today at 4 p.m. at Reno High School. David Charles will get the call on the mound for the Senators. Carson lost to Reno in a nonleague game recently, but Carson coach Cody Farnworth thinks he got a decent read on the Huskies.

"I got a good feel," he said. "I think they'll try to run and bunt. We have to play better defense than we did today to be ready for it. (David) Charles gives us a great chance to win if he throws like he's been doing all year."

Of the win, Farnworth added: "Their kid (Lewis) threw well (at the start). Once we got somebody on base we could do something. The kids responded and started swinging the bat."

Brett Valley led off the fourth with a walk and was forced at second by Tommy Preston. Kyle Stone singled Preston to second, and both runners moved up a base on Paul Cagle's groundball out. With the count 1-1, Barr drilled a homer to right, tying the game at 3.

"It was a fastball low and away," said Barr, who finished with five RBIs. "Yesterday, we did some soft toss and worked on staying back a little more on the outside pitch."

Dustin Buttner followed with a homer to snap the tie. Rutledge walked, moved to third on a single by Tyler Hutchins and scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-3.

Wooster sliced the lead to 5-4 in the top of the fifth on three walks and a wild pitch.

Carson got the run back in the bottom of the inning when Valley led off with a fly ball in the right-centerfield gap. Wooster's Garrett Felling went for a diving catch, but came up empty as Valley motored into third with a triple. He scored moments later on Preston's fly ball to right.

Then came the fateful sixth when Carson got some help in more ways than one.

Wooster had cut the lead to 6-5 on Doug Corl's one-out double. Rutledge was laboring, but he worked out of the jam by striking out Kevin Monroy and Lewis. Both batters went after pitches out of the strike zone. Monroy swung at one in the dirt and Lewis went after a ball up in his eyes.

Rutledge struck out 12 and walked eight and had problems figuring out Fisher's strike zone.

"Lewis chased the high pitch the entire game," Rutledge said. "We tried to work him up.

"This game was mentally exhausting. The strike zone started tight. I lost it, there were a couple of errors, I found it (the zone) and lost it again."

The bottom of the sixth is when the game turned ugly.

Dustin Buttner walked and was replaced on the basepaths by Jeff Butler. Lewis tried to pick off Butler at first, and it looked like it was successful. However, Wittbeck called a balk, moving Butler to second. That brought both Malcolm and his assistant out of the dugout. Order was eventually restored, albeit it briefly, as moments later Fisher tossed Malcolm. That's when the Wooster assistant started swearing at Wittbeck and the coach was relieved of further participation in the game.

It was ironic that Farnworth had talked to Fisher briefly earlier in the game.

"I wasn't arguing," Farnworth said. "I wanted to know whose call it was. I just wanted to know. I did (feel he was balking)."

After order was restored, Rutledge and Hutchins singled, the latter driving in Butler. Preston drove in a run with a single, Barr plated two with a single and the Senators executed a double steal to complete the barrage and send the Colts into the loser's bracket.