Ace in the hole

Once again, he was nearly unhittable.

Fallon ace Alex Mendez spun another gem in a surgical performance to lead the Greenwave to an 8-3 win over rival Fernley in a Northern Division I-A game on Wednesday at the Edward Arciniega Complex.

Not only did Fallon (6-1 league, 6-6 overall) get the win, but has now won six of seven and is riding hot into its April 3-4 showdown at home against Elko (6-1, 9-3). The Indians nipped Spring Creek, 6-5, on Tuesday to set up the big series.

“We had key hits at the right time,” Fallon coach Lester de Braga said.

The sophomore fireballer was on point using his two-seam and four-seam fastball to blow past the Vaqueros.

Mendez spotted his fastball and used his off-speed pitches to set up the Fernley hitters. Mendez was relieved after the sixth inning by Calvin Greenwell and Fernley scratched across three runs, but Greenwell closed the game with a strikeout.

“My four-seam and two-seam have been my main pitches this year,” Mendez said.

Mendez, though, was locked in even though he said his curveball didn’t have its usual snap. It didn’t matter as his fastball was popping and he took advantage of counts in his favor.

“They expect an 0-2 curveball, but in reality all I did was throw a fastball on the outside corner,” he said. “They were shortening up so they’re not going to be able to touch it.”

Mendez has quickly become Fallon’s ace after an impressive freshman campaign.

Last year he worked mostly out of the bullpen as the top reliever. He slammed the door on opponents to quash many scoring threats and was one of the catalysts for the Wave’s run to the DI-A state final.

But his improvement just keeps growing and Mendez was dialed in on Wednesday.

“He was effective moving in and out and keeping them off balance with that,” de Braga said. “He’s got three or four pitches we can work with, so if one’s not working he can come back to something else.”

This season, though, Mendez has moved to the top of the rotation through a desire to be the best.

As he has risen through the ranks, however, Mendez is coming into his own mentally as well. Just as important as talent, the mental obstacles in baseball are just as daunting.

Mendez, though, realizes he has a fantastic defense behind him and he does not have to carry the load by himself.

“I’m not being so hard on myself,” Mendez explained. “I’m letting my defense work.”

Perhaps even more impressive is Mendez’s effectiveness as evident by his performance last week at Spring Creek.

In a 3-1 win, he struck out 11 in a complete-game three hitter and threw 64 strikes in 103 pitches.

“Mendez is the type of kid who wants the ball and wants to be on the mound,” de Braga said. “If he could throw 20 innings a week, he would do it. He’s just going to get better and stronger as we go.”

Despite Mendez’s effort, the Wave’s defense was fluid and the offense, once again, produced big innings.

Fallon’s ability to steal, hit behind runners and take extra bases kept on the pressure.

“Today we figured out how to get runs early,” Mendez said. “Our big boys got the hits we needed.”

Fallon started the scoring in the bottom of the third thanks to an RBI from Joe Pyle. Dylan Jabines added another run-scoring hit and Riley Williams capped the frame with a two-run single.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Wave’s bats battered Fernley once again.

Williams reached on an infield single and moved to second when Branden Beeghly was hit by a pitch. Williams scored on consecutive passed balls.

Beeghly scored on a single by Brock Uptain and Uptain crossed the plate on a double by Sage Mori.

“The kids kind of started settling down,” de Braga added. “They came back and got their timing down, so things started working.”