Carson started slow and finished strong Wednesday night.
After going scoreless in the first inning, the Blue Jays scored 13 runs over the next three innings to grab a 13-2 mercy rule win over Fernley in a summer baseball game at Ron McNutt Field.
Carson returns to action Friday at 7 p.m. against the Sun Devils in a 9-inning game.
Carson outhit Fernley 15-4, as Abel Carter went 3-for-3, and Connor Pradere, Cody Azevedo, Kyle Krebs and Terek Been all had two hits each. Joe Nelson drove in three runs with a triple, fielder’s choice and sacrifice fly. Been also drove in three runs.
“We definitely needed a quick game,” Carson coach Bryan Manoukian said. “We (the team) have been out here putting on our summer camp for 7 through 12-year-olds, so we’re tired. We’ve had about 50 kids out here.
“Our approach at the plate was good tonight. We hit a lot of hard ground balls and line drives. We didn’t have many pop-ups. We need to carry that over to Friday.”
At the outset it didn’t look like this would be a quick game.
Derek Schafer retired the first two batters he faced, and then gave up three straight hits. On one of those hits, second baseman Jace Keema made a nice stop on Stephen Curry’s groundball but threw wildly to first, allowing Giovanni Piroddi to get all the way around to third. Brandon Hlade followed with a two-run single to make it 2-0.
Schafer retired eight of the next nine batters he faced, allowing only a third-inning single by Chase Morrow, who was doubled off by Azevedo who caught Josh Kirk’s line drive and threw a strike to Been at first.
“Schafer did a good job,” Manoukian said. “He came out throwing strikes. He had some tough luck in the first, but continued to throw strikes. Cody made a nice play doubling the runner up.”
Carson evened the game in the last of the second when Keema singled and reached second when the left fielder booted the ball. Nelson followed with a run-scoring triple to deep right-centerfield. Bryce Moyle tied the game with a double just inside the line at third.
A single by Carter moved Moyle to third. Been followed with a hard groundball up the middle. Curry flagged it down and caught Moyle between third and home for the first out. Curry easily retired Schafer and Jared Barnard to end the inning.
The Blue Jays exploded for four runs and six hits in the third inning to up their lead to 6-2.
Pradere singled to right, moved to second on Azevedo’s bunt single and scored on a single by Krebs. Keema singled Azevedo to third and Nelson followed with a sacrifice fly. After a fielder’s choice and infield single by Carter, Been followed with a two-run single. Schafer flied to left to end the inning.
Carson batted around in the fourth, sending 13 batters to the plate in scoring seven runs on just five hits.
Azevedo, Nelson, Moyle, Krebs, Been, Barnard and Carter drove in a run apiece.
Jared Anderson came on in the top of the fifth to retire Fernley in order and end the game after 4 1/2 innings.
NOTES: Seven Carson players will play in the annual all-star games Saturday at Peccole Park. The senior game is set for 12:30 and the junior game is at 5. Moyle, Pradere, Been, Krebs and John Holton are playing in the junior game, while Brandon Allen and Josiah Pongasi are playing in the senior game. Moyle, who just finished his sophomore year, is playing because a player dropped out from another team ... On Sunday, Carson will host the Reno Knights in a 9-inning game at 10 a.m.