Jace Keema was lights out on the mound, and he needed to be.
After pounding out 12 hits on Wednesday night, Carson managed just seven hits, all in the final three innings Thursday night, but it was enough to subdue South Tahoe 4-0 at Governors Field.
Keema was dominant throughout, retiring the first 12 batters he faced before giving up his only hit of the night, a single to Colin Buchholz leading off the fifth. He finished with five strikeouts and just one walk. He left the game with two outs in the sixth, because of pitch limit, and Tez Allen struck out the only batter he faced to end the game.
The win pushed Carson into a game at 7:30 p.m. against Carson Valley, a 28-4 winner over North Valley's.
"Jace threw very well," Carson manager Kinkade DeJoseph said. "He's clutch. He pitched well against a good Tahoe team.
"We didn't kill the ball tonight, but we got enough hits to get it done. Jace didn't get a lot of strikeouts. Our defense made some nice plays."
For the first three innings, South Tahoe's Garret Harley matched Keema pitch-for-pitch. The game was scoreless after three innings, as neither team was able to get a hit.
"He (Harley) mixed and matched his pitches," DeJoseph said. "He kept us down. You have to hand it to their defense. It was exceptional."
Carson broke loose for a run in the fourth.
Keema walked and was forced at second by Allen, who advanced to second on a single by Jesse Lopez. Allen stole third on a delayed steal and scored on a hard single up the middle by Henry Loos to snap the scoreless tie.
Carson added two in the fifth to take a 3-0 lead, as Lopez came up big again with a double to drive in Kyle Krebs, who had reached on a fielder's choice, and Keema who walked.
South Tahoe threatened in the fifth, but with two outs and runners on first and second, Harley was thrown out by catcher Jayden DeJoseph trying to advance to third on a ball that bounced off the backstop.
In the sixth, DeJoseph gave Carson an insurance run with a run-scoring single.
Lopez and Bryce Moyle led Carson with two hits apiece.
"It was a great game," said Joby Cefalu, South Tahoe manager. "I have no complains about anything the boys did. We didn't make any errors that cost us any runs. It was a great ballgame."
9-10 ALL STARS
SPARKS CENTENNIAL 15, CARSON 7
Sparks Centennial wiped out a 5-2 deficit with eight fifth-inning runs en route to a 15-7 victory Thursday night.
The loss puts Carson into an elimination game tonight against either Sparks National or Reno American at 8 p.m.
After spotting Sparks a 2-0 lead, Carson scored one in the second on a run-scoring single by Jayson Artz and added four more in the third to take a 5-2 lead on singles by Kyle Glanzman and Zach Harris plus two Sparks Centennial errors.
After a scoreless fourth, Sparks sent 13 batters to the plate and scored eight runs to take a 10-5 lead. Carson's defense committed three errors.
Carson came back in the fifth with two runs to make it 10-7 thanks to a run-scoring triple by Jerry Thomas and a two-out error in left field.
The winners tacked on five more runs in the top of the sixth to put the game out of reach.
"What are you going to say about this," Carson's Justin Harris said. "I thought the kids played hard. Both teams hit the ball well."