3rd baseman Abel Carter scoops up a Wooster grounder at Ron McNutt Field Saturday.
In the past few years, Carson High has always dropped a game or two to teams ranked lower in the standings.
Thanks to key hitting by John Holton and the pitching of Bryce Moyle, Jared Barnard and Cody Azevedo, the Senators didn’t let that happen again, sweeping Wooster, 9-6 and 10-0, Saturday at Ron McNutt Field.
Carson improved to 12-4 and has a share of second place thanks to Damonte Ranch sweeping Spanish Springs. Carson starts a two-game series against Damonte Tuesday at 3:45 in Reno. The teams finish the series Thursday at Carson at 6 p.m.
“We want to have a home game in the playoffs, so every game is important,” Carson coach Bryan Manoukian said. “It was nice to come out of this with two wins.”
Carson scored one in the first in the opener when Connor Pradere doubled and scored on an infield out, and then Holton started to make his contributions. He went 3-for-3 with a two-run double and a two-run homer, the extra-base hit highighting the four-run third and the two-run fifth.
In the third, Cody Azevedo reached on an error, went to second on a wild pitch, to third on Kyle Krebs’ infield single and scored on a single by Terek Been. Jace Keema followed with a run-scoring single, and after Abel Carter hit into a fielder’s choice, Holton laced a two-run double to left-centerfield to make it 7-0. He was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a triple.
Wooster finally reached Moyle for a run in the fourth on an infield single by Tyler Schricker, but Carson answered back with two in the bottom of the inning to make it 7-1.
The Colts scored again in the fifth, but again the Senators answered, and again it was Holton coming up big.
With Keema aboard on a walk, Holton launched a fastball over the left-centerfield fence for Carson’s final runs and a 9-2 lead.
“The homer came on a fastball right down the middle,” Holton said. “I’m seeing the ball really well right now. It seemed like every ball was a big target to swing at. I felt I was dialed in. On the double, I didn’t make a great turn around first.”
“John came out swinging the bat,” Manoukian said. “He hit the ball very well. The thing I’m most impressed with is that he went the other way hard (single in the second). He hit the ball hard.”
Moyle struck out eight, walked two and hit a batter.
He left with a 9-2 lead. Reliever Cole McDannald, who has been effective recently, was touched for four runs in his only inning of work, making the game a lot closer than it really was.
“Bryce didn’t have his best stuff, but he made pitches when he had to,” Manoukian said.
Krebs, Jesse Lopez and Pradere all had two hits.
In the second game, Carson used three hit batters, all by starter Tyler Black, a walk, an error, a two-run double by Krebs and a two-run single by Holton to grab a quick 6-0 lead. Black was pulled without getting an out, and Schricker came on in relief.
The Senators made it 8-0 in the second when Cody Azevedo struck out swinging on a ball in the dirt, but made it to first when the ball got by the catcher.
He stole second, went to third when Krebs’ groundball was misplayed and scored on Been’s single. Keema drove in the second run with an infield roller to the right side.
Carson added another run in the third when Moyle reached on an error and scored on a Pradere single.
After being shut down in the fourth and fifth, Carson ended the game in the sixth on singles by Pradere, Krebs and Been, the latter hit ending the game on the mercy rule.
Barnard pitched four scoreless innings, working out of small jams in the second and fourth innings. He was lifted in favor of Azevedo after hitting Keith Turnipseed and walking Alex Malcomb.
Azevedo was sensational. He did walk Schricker to load the bases, but he struck out the next three hitters to end the inning.
In the sixth, he gave up a one-out triple to Cody Jones, but retired the next two hitters to keep the shutout intact.
Pradere and Krebs had two hits apiece in the second game.