Senators sweep Douglas

Carson High used a solid effort on the mound from Jace Zampirro plus clutch hitting by Gehrig Tucker and TJ Thomsen to knock off the Douglas Tigers for the second straight day.

Zampirro allowed only three hits in six-plus innings, and Tucker and Thomsen drove in two runs apiece to lead Carson to an easy 6-1 and a sweep of the two-game series Friday night at Ron McNutt Field.

It was the third straight win for the Senators, who finish the regular season next week with two-game series' against Galena and Bishop Manogue.

"Jace got some run support today," Carson coach Cody Farnworth said. "The last three outings he's been really good. He threw 87 pitches. I took him out because we have four games next week. Cole (Dufresne) came in and did a good job."

"They are a free-swinging team," Zampirro said. "That made things easier. I had pretty good command of everything. My fastball was working well."

Zampirro had one bad inning, and that was in the first when the Tigers loaded then bases . Zampirro got Matt Santos on an infield roller to end the inning .

Carson got on the board in the first with a run off Jackson Ketron. After two outs, Nick Domitrovich doubled to deep right and scored on Luke Maher's bloop single to left.

The Senators made it 3-0 in the second thanks to a throwing error by Ketron on Casey Wolfe's sacrifice bunt which put runners on second and third. After Dion Copoulos was retired on a comebacker, Thomsen sliced a double to left to score both runners. Ketron retired Tucker and Brock Pradere to end the inning.

Douglas scored its only run in the fourth when Nolan Weintz walked and was safe at second when Tucker's force-out throw to second was off the mark. With runners at first and second, Domitrovich threw away a potential double play ball at second, allowing Ketron to score to make it 3-1.

Carson scored two more in the fourth to make it 5-1 as a run scored when Tucker's possible double play ball was mishandled by Kaleb Foster at short, and two batters later Domitrovich followed with a run-scoring single.

Ketron was more effective in the latter stages of the game because he was able to throw his big curveball for strikes, but he was the victim of faulty support. The Tigers made nine errors in the series.

"Carson is playing good baseball right now," said assistant coach John Glover, who ran the team in the absence of head coach Bruce Jacobsen. "We're struggling a little bit. We made some mistakes and they made us pay for them."

Tucker hit a one-out single in the top of the sixth to score Copoulos, who had reached on a single. Ketron was lifted in favor of Dalton Grissell, who got he final two outs of the inning.

Zampirro praised his teammates for their clutch hitting, and he was the beneficiary of good defensive plays by Wolfe and Domitrovich in the fifth inning. Both plays robbed Douglas hitters of basehits.

NOTES: Douglas played without two starting infielders - shortstop Leo Trebotich and third baseman Dillon Lopez - and coach Bruce Jacobsen. The two players were apparently injured during a post-game practice after the Tigers made several errors in the seventh inning to allow Carson to come back and tie the game before winning it in the eighth on Thursday. ... Carson is at Galena Tuesday at 3:45 p.m.