Fallon drops state opener to Boulder City

RENO – Leave the ball up and someone’s bound to hit the ball far.

The Greenwave baseball team couldn’t command the lower part of the strike zone late as Boulder City clawed back from a 9-6 deficit to win 13-9 in the opening game of the Division I-A state baseball tournament at Galena High School.

“It was just one of those situations where we left the ball up and we got behind in the count,” Fallon coach Lester de Braga said. “They’re a good hitting team. The game changed around pretty fast.”

Fallon faces Sierra Vista at 10 a.m. on Friday at Galena after Elko won 2-0 and will face Boulder City. Fallon needs to win twice on Friday to make it to Saturday’s championship game at 9 a.m. at Bishop Manogue.

“We’ve been here before,” de Braga said about facing elimination. “We’ll regroup and focus.”

The Greenwave saw the Eagles score seven unanswered after they sent 13 to the plate in the sixth inning as Clay Davison and Kendall Johnson couldn’t stop the bleeding.

Clinging to a 9-6 lead after Cameron Beyer and Branden Beeghly drove in a run in the top half of the inning, Fallon couldn’t keep the ball down. Davison had control issues as he left the ball up when Boulder City lined a two-run single to center. With one out and the bases loaded, Boulder City cleared the bases with a two-strike, one-out double off Johnson to give Boulder City its first lead of the game at 11-9. The Eagles hit a full-count pitch into right-center for an RBI triple and then single in a run to give the Southern Nevada school its seventh run of the inning.

Fallon starter Alex Mendez looked strong in the first four innings but was pulled in the fifth when Hayden Strasdin came in to face one batter. Mendez gave up six runs.

Jack Swisher’s double off the fence in the first inning scored the game’s first two runs. Beyer added an RBI single in the third for a 3-0 lead before Boulder City scored twice in the bottom half of the inning.

Fallon scored once in the fourth off a fielding error but Boulder City tied the game at 4. Trae Workman smacked a two-run, two-out single in the fifth inning to give Fallon a 7-4 lead in the fifth.