Jared Barnard delivers a pitch in a game against Reno on Tuesday afternoon.
Carson High’s Luke Myers took two swings in the bottom of the seventh, and both hurt.
After fouling a pitch that bounced up and hit him in the upper part of his leg, Myers took a little time out of the box to shake it off. His next swing put the hurt on the Reno Huskies.
Myers hit a Texas Leaguer to short left field to score courtesy runner Kyle Glanzmann from second, snapping a 2-all tie and give the Senators a 3-2 win over Reno in the 4A season-opener Tuesday afternoon at Ron McNutt Field.
“I have said it before that wins in this league are extremely difficult, especially against Reno,” Carson coach Bryan Manoukian said.
This win had a little bit of everything — pitching, timely hitting and great outfield defense by Landon Truesdale, who made tremendous catches in the fifth and seventh innings.
Truesdale’s diving catch in right robbed Kaden Hogan of a single and the go-ahead RBI. Reno had runners on first and second at the time.
In the bottom of the seventh, Trevor Edis walked and was replaced on the basepaths by the speedy Glanzmann. Reno’s Christian Chamberlain fanned Kahle Good for the first out.
Cole McDannald tried to bunt Glanzmann over. Reno catcher Kurtis Roberts made a great play to catch the ball for the second out, and Glanzmann made an even better one by tagging up and reaching second base. On a 1-1 count, Myers delivered the game-winning hit.
“It was a curveball,” Myers said. “I was expecting it because he struck me out both times on curveballs. I was just trying to put the ball in play.”
The win went to McDannald, who allowed one hit in two scoreless innings of relief of Jared Barnard, who went the first five. Barnard was at 86 pitches when he was lifted. Barnard allowed five hits and one earned run.
“He threw 86 pitches, and it’s early in the season,” Manoukian said. “I think he was getting a little tired. He was able to locate his breaking ball. I was impressed with how he pitched in situations where he needed to make good pitches. He kept us within striking distance.”
Manoukian was referring to the first and third innings. In the first, Barnard induced a third-out roller by Austin Whan to get out of a bases-loaded situation. In the third, Barnard got J.B. Liesmann to ground into a short-to-first double play to strand a runner.
In the bottom of the third, Carson nicked Chamberlain for a run when Truesdale hit a two-out single and scored on Jesse Lopez’s off-field double.
Reno tied the score in the fourth after a two-out error by Jace Keema kept the inning alive. Sawyer Jaksick drove in Jackson Pappas.
Carson went ahead 2-1 in the fourth on Edis’ fielder’s choice, but Reno tied it in the fifth on Liesmann’s sacrifice fly. Truesdale made a great grab, and he saved a possible go-ahead run in the process.
The score stayed that way until the seventh when Edis reached base to start the game-winning rally.
Carson struck out 12 times, a fact not lost on Manoukian. Several of the strikeouts were on breaking balls in or near the dirt. “We had a long conversation about laying off the breaking ball and the fastball up,” Manoukian said. “I thought we did a good job in the first three innings, but we were awful in the fourth, fifth and sixth. Trevor got us going with his walk.”
The teams square off Thursday at 3:45 p.m. at Reno. Bryce Moyle will be on the hill for the Senators.
MCQUEEN 7, DOUGLAS 2
MINDEN — Austin Thomas pitched six solid innings on Tuesday and the McQueen Lancers scored five runs in the third inning on their way to a 7-2 Northern 4A conference-opening win against Douglas.
Douglas (0-1 conference, 3-3 overall) failed to score after loading the bases with no outs in the first inning and McQueen came back to take charge on a sunny afternoon at Tiger Field.
As it turned out, Thomas didn’t allow many opportunities as he allowed three hits, two of which came in the sixth inning when the Tigers scored both of their runs. The senior left-hander, a fourth-year varsity veteran and all-region pitcher last year, retired 13 straight batters between the second and sixth innings.
Spencer Trivitt hit 2-for-3 and scored one run to lead the Tigers offensively. Jayden Foster delivered an RBI single and Isaiah Schat added a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
The Lancers, who started eight returnees from last year, scored once in the second inning and pushed their lead to 6-0 in the third. Joel Seth singled one run home, Thomas followed with a two-run double off the center field fence, Austin Majorsky singled another run home and Austin Parry hit an RBI double to highlight the five-run rally.
Nelson Padilla hit 3-for-4 and stole two bases for the Lancers.
JV BASEBALL: Reno rolled to a 16-0 victory over the Senators in a game called after five innings because of the 10-run rule.