Fallon's Michael Porras slides into the bag during Fallon's series at South Tahoe last weekend. The Greenwave won two of three games and clinched the Northern Division I-A title.
One win was all the Fallon baseball team needed to clinch the Northern Division I-A championship.
Instead, the Greenwave took two of three games at South Tahoe to earn the No. 1 seed in this weekend’s regional tournament at Dayton. Fallon won 11-5 and 5-1 with a 7-6 loss sandwiched between.
The Wave earned the league title by one game over rival Elko and takes on fourth-seeded Spring Creek at 9 a.m. Friday in Dayton. Elko and South Tahoe battle at 11:30 a.m. with the two winners meeting at 4:30 p.m. and the losers clashing at 2 p.m.
This marks the fifth consecutive postseason berth for the Wave under Lester de Braga.
In Friday’s 11-5 win, the Vikings tagged Fallon ace Alex Mendez for five runs on five hits in 2.1 innings. After being chased, reliever Chase McElvain came in and hammered the door shut on South Tahoe by allowing no runs and just three hits in 4.2 innings.
The offense, meanwhile, was sparked by doubles from Dalton Frank, Joe Pyle, Marshall Coverston and Dylan Jabines.
Jabines came up big with three hits and four RBIs, while Pyle and Coverston each tallied a pair of RBIs as Fallon rallied to victory.
Saturday’s opener was a sea-saw battle as South Tahoe escaped with a one-run win.
Coverston added two more RBIs, while Austin Bischoff doubles and drove in one.
On the mound, Riley Williams battled for six innings allowing six earned runs on eight hits, but struck out seven.
In the finale, Fallon’s defense and pitching had a stranglehold on the Vikings offense as Kendall Johnson spun a complete-game five-hitter and fanned seven. The defense didn’t commit an error, while the offense was led by three RBIs from Sage Mori and three hits and two runs from Jack Swisher.
Catcher Will Bliss was hit by a pitch three times and also threw a runner out attempting to steal.
Southern I-A playoffs
The field is set in the Southern I-A playoffs as eight teams vie for two state title berths.
All games are on Tuesday, but results were not available at press time.
Boulder City, the No. 1 seed in the Sunrise League, takes on No. 4 Pahrump Valley of the Sunset League. Spring Valley, No. 2 SS, faces No. 3 SR Chaparral.
Defending state champ Faith Lutheran, No. 1 SS, hosts No. 4 SR Moapa Valley and No. 2 SR SECTA squares off against No. 3 SS Sierra Vista.
The southern tournament is double elimination with the winners and losers of Tuesday’s games, respectively, playing each other today.