Freshman right-hander Tyler Tungate no-hit the Western Nevada College Wildcats through seven innings to propel Riverside City College to a 7-1 nonconference baseball victory Saturday in Riverside, Calif.
WNC freshman left-hander Matt Young, seeking his third victory of the season, lasted five innings, surrendering four hits and two earned runs. Reliever Cody Kerns didn’t give up a hit in 2/3 of an inning, but all three of his baserunners, including two by free passes, came around to score in the sixth inning as Riverside built a 5-0 lead.
Tungate walked three and struck out five and surrendered a run in the seventh inning before leaving an inning later. Relievers David Robles and Cory Peterson held the Wildcats hitless over the final two frames as the Tigers improved to 9-0. “They don’t give up runs, so that is a good recipe for success,” said WNC coach D.J. Whittemore. “If you look at all of their wins this season, they limit the number of hits, walks and runs they give up.”
Robles relieved Tungate in the eighth inning, and although he retired the Wildcats on three strikeouts, he gave up WNC’s first hit — a two-out single by Austin Andrews.
Riverside ended the scoreless tie in the fourth inning. Garrison Cole doubled and advanced to third base on a balk. Roosevelt Bates delivered the RBI with the Tigers’ second double of the inning.
Riverside broke it open in the sixth, scoring four times with the benefit of only one hit. After Brody Weiss belted a ground-rule double to open the inning, Kerns replaced Young and immediately struggled with his control. A wild pitch sent Weiss to third base, and he scored on a sacrifice fly by David Schuknecht, putting the Tigers in front 2-0. Next, Anthony Ayala and Cole reached base via a walk and hit by pitch, respectively. The Wildcats compounded Kerns’ wildness with an infield error — their lone defensive miscue — allowing Ayala to score. Another walk, followed by Kerns’ second wild pitch of the inning, plated Cole to make the score 4-0. D.J. Peters replaced Kerns and issued a walk and a hit batsman to bring home the Tigers’ fourth run of the inning.
The Wildcats broke up Tungate’s shutout bid in the seventh, scoring without producing a hit.
Jake Bennett took a leadoff walk and went to second when Kody Reynolds was hit by a pitch. On Tim Lichty’s groundout to Tungate, Bennett advanced to third base and Reynolds went to second. A groundout by pinch-hitter Bradley Lewis allowed Bennett to cross the plate with WNC’s only run. The run ended a stretch of 13 innings without WNC scoring.
“We’re not doing as good of a job with two strikes as we need to,” Whittemore said.
Peters gave up two runs in the eighth to complete the scoring.
WNC (6-4) will try to end its three-game losing streak in Sunday’s series finale at 1 p.m. The two teams have split 20 games over the past seven years.
COLLEGE BASEBALL
Whitt picks up save
ABILENE, Texas — Carson High graduate Adam Whitt made quick work of his first appearance of the season to pick up the save for the Nevada baseball team its 9-6 win over Abilene Christian on Saturday.
After Abilene Christian scored four runs to close to within 9-6 in the ninth, Whitt came on to retire the only batter he faced to pick up the save for Nevada, which beat Abilene Christian for the second straight time to improve to 2-0.
COLLEGE SOFTBALL
Nevada splits pair
LAS VEGAS – Three home runs and a complete game, three strikeout performance from freshman Chase Redington lifted the Nevada softball team to a 6-3 victory over UTEP in its second game of the second day at the Wilson/DeMarini Desert Classic.
The Wolf Pack fell to Long Beach State 10-2 in five innings in its first contest of the day.
Juniors Amanda Weis and Jasmine Jenkins, and senior Ashley Butera each hit home runs that accounted for five of Nevada’s six runs. The Pack (3-6, 0-0) also saw a career milestone in the victory over the Miners. With her RBI single in the top of the sixth inning, senior Karley Hopkins became Nevada softball’s hits leader, (227) passing former Carson and Douglas star Brittany Puzey for first place on the all-time list.
In Nevada’s first game of the day, LBSU scored four runs in the top of the first and one run in the top of the second to take a 5-0 lead. Nevada then plated two runs in the bottom of the third on a fly ball by Weis that was mishandled by the left fielder, scoring Gibson and Jenkins to make it 5-2 LBSU.
Nevada will wrap up action at the Wilson/DeMarini Desert Classic today at 1:30 p.m. when the Pack takes on Utah.
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Sierra Lutheran girls win
Cali Benton posted another double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds to lead Sierra Lutheran to a 26-21 win over Whittell.
Leanna Temple had eight points and eight rebounds and Amy Westre added nine rebounds for the Falcons.
Playoffs start Tuesday
The NIAA regional playoffs begin at host sites on Tuesday (boys) and Wednesday (girls).
On Tuesday, Carson hosts North Valleys, Bishop Manogue visits Reed, Spanish Springs hosts Douglas and Galena hosts Reno. All games begin at 7 p.m.
On Wednesday, Manogue hosts McQueen, Reed hosts Galena, Reno hosts Carson and Douglas hosts North Valleys. All games start at 7.
The boys semifinals at Carson are scheduled for Thursday at 5:30 and 7:15, respectively. The girls semis will be Friday at Carson and will have the same starting times. The finals at Carson will start at 4 and 6 p.m., respectively, on Saturday.
Virginia City boys roll
VIRGINIA CITY — Clint Hess scored 32 points and Christian Lindsay added 21 to lead the Muckers to an easy 67-44 win over Mineral County Saturday night.
VC, 15-1, will be the No. 2 seed at the upcoming Division IV tournament which starts Thursday in Elko.