RENO — There were some new faces in Carson’s lineup for its summer baseball opener, but it was the varsity veterans that did major damage Monday against the Reno A’s.
Jace Keema drove in three runs with a key two-run double in the seventh and an infield out, and Jesse Lopez and Trevor Edis drove in two runs apiece to lead the Blue Jays to an 8-3 triumph at Bishop Manogue.
Carson hosts North Valleys Thursday at 5 p.m.
“Our young guys came in and competed,” Carson coach Bryan Manoukian said. “Overall, I thought our pitchers did a good job considering we haven’t done much the past two weeks. We swung the bats well. We usually don’t score that many runs against Manogue.”
Manoukian used seven different pitchers — Bryce Moyle, Colby Zemp, Jared Barnard, Edis, Derek Schafer, Cole McDannald and Ben Nelson. The first five pitched an inning apiece. McDannald struggled a bit, giving up one run in the sixth before departing in favor of Nelson with two outs and runners at second and third in the seventh. Nelson retired Evan Hulbert on a comebacker to end the game.
Carson scored one in the first off Michael Davis, who dealt the Senators a regular-season loss.
Moyle singled, advanced to third on Abel Carter’s double to deep right-center field and scored on Keema’s infield roller.
The Blue Jays made it 2-0 in the third when Lopez singled to right, stole second and scored when Moyle’s hard groundball to second was misplayed. The chance for a big inning was shut down when Davis fanned Nico Salm and got Barnard on an infield roller.
Carson added two in the fourth when both Luke Myers and Landon Truesdale were hit by pitches by reliever Billy Swope, who threw so well against CHS in the regional playoffs at Peccole Park. After an out, Lopez ripped a two-run double to left-center field to make it 4-0.
Manogue scored twice on three hits against Schafer and added a run off McDannald in the sixth to slice the deficit to 4-3.
In the seventh, Lopez singled, Moyle walked and Carter beat out a bunt to load the bases. Keema delivered a two-run double to deep right-centerfield, scoring Lopez and Moyle, and sending Carter to third. With the infield in, Edis drilled a two-run single up the middle to make it 8-3.