Teigen Key snags a low inside pitch in a game against Galena on Tuesday afternoon.
RENO — A nightmare first inning extended Carson High’s losing streak to three games.
Galena scored 10 first-inning runs en route to a 14-6 win over the Senators Tuesday afternoon in a Northern 4A baseball game.
The loss moved Carson to 6-7 in league play and Galena moved to 8-5. The teams conclude their two-game series at 6 p.m. Thursday at Ron McNutt Field. Ben Nelson will oppose Galena’s Nick Brown.
Pitching continues to be an issue for the Senators, who have surrendered 53 runs in their last four games, and the Senators have lost three of those contests.
Starting pitching and defense was an issue on Tuesday, because after the 10-run first inning Carson outscored Galena, 6-4. Vernon Painter had his most ineffective outing of the season. In 2/3 of an inning, he gave up four hits, walked four batters and hit a batter. All 10 runs were unearned.
“You walk four, hit a guy, make two errors and give up four hits, and you’re going to give up 10 runs,” Carson coach Bryan Manoukian said. “We’ve got to be better prepared.
“Vernon fell behind (in the count) and he had to groove it. He has to throw the ball over the plate; throw strikes. At one point, they had three runs on only one hit.”
Galena sent 13 batters to the plate, and the Senators should have been out of the inning after five hitters.
Galena’s Charles Douglas reached on a throwing error by Abel Carter. He moved to second on a single by Andrew West. After a strikeout, both runners moved to second and third on a passed ball. Cole Demosthenes walked to load the bases. Painter struck out Nick Myers for the second out, but walked the next three hitters, each walk forcing home a run.
Austin Crofoot reached on shortstop Kahle Good’s error, scoring two runs to make it 5-0. After Douglas was plunked, West hit a three-run double to right-centerfield to make it 8-0. Niko Pezzonella followed with a run-scoring double, and Demosthenes ended Painter’s day with a run-scoring single. Quinn Overland got out of the inning without any further damage.
Certainly the errors didn’t help, but you simply can’t walk three straight hitters with the bases loaded.
For whatever reason, Galena stopped hitting in the clutch, leaving eight runners stranded over the next four innings.
“High school kids,” Galena coach Beau Walker said. “Tough to stay intense (at the plate) when you have a 10-run lead. They struggle with that.
“The first inning has been a problem. In five losses, four have been because of that first inning.”
It was just the opposite for the Senators, who were held scoreless for the first three innings by Brandon Scheid, who wiggled out of a first-and-third situation in the second by striking Colby Zemp and Josh Buchan.
“It’s hard to hit when you’re down 10-0,” Manoukian said. “It takes a little bit (to get going).”
The Senators avoided further damage in the bottom of the third when Joe Tonino, who has been hampered by injuries to both shoulders, finally got a chance to play in the field. He responded with a diving catch to save two runs.
“If we didn’t have Joe Tonino, we might have gotten beat 15-3,” Manoukian said. “He made some good plays and gave us some life so we could play seven innings.”
Carson finally got on board in the fourth when Josh Buchan hit a 3-run homer to left-centerfield following a walk to Teigen Key and a single by Zemp. West made it 11-3 with a solo homer in the bottom of the inning. Carson added another run in the fifth when Kahle Good singled home Tonino.
Carter’s two-run double made it 11-6 in the top of the sixth, but Galena scored three times in the bottom of the inning, one run coming on Douglas’ sixth homer of the season.
Dayton rolls S. Tahoe
DAYTON - The Dust Devils overcame a 3-2 deficit with three runs in the third and five in both the fifth and sixth innings en route to an easy 15-5 win over the Vikings Tuesday afternoon.
The game was called with two outs in the bottom of the sixth on a 10-run rule.
Dayton finished with 17 hits, as eight of the nine hitters had at least one hit. Zach Woitas went 4-for-4 and Trevor Burrows went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBI from the lead-off spot.
Justin Schmidt, Isaac Von Schoff, Tyler Stolfich and Daniel Hastings all had two hits. Stolfich drove in four runs and Von Schoff drove in three.
Jake Madson picked up the win, pitching five innings. He allowed eight hits, struck out five and walked four.
SOFTBALL
Dayton smothers Vikings
DAYTON - The Dust Devils scored three runs in the first inning and never looked back en route to a mercy rule win over South Tahoe Tuesday in a Northern 3A game.
Tamia Powell hit for the cycle, going 4-for-5 with three runs scored and three RBI. Alaura Greenwalt went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs, and Amanda Woitas, Marissa Hein, Julie Rogacs, Jailene James and Shay Thompson all had one hit.
Woitas got the win in the circle, allowing seven hits and three runs. She struck out five, walked one and hit a batter.