Fallon pitching stops Dayton in sweep

Damien Towne had a successful debut as a Greenwave pitcher, leading Fallon to a 14-3 Northern 3A win in the first game of a doubleheader Monday.

Fallon won the second game, 7-2.

Towne allowed four hits, walked one and struck out four in four innings of work. Nate Galusha relieved Towne in the fifth inning and struck out three Dust Devils.

With the doubleheader win, Fallon improves to 8-0 with a crucial series against Truckee, 9-0, this weekend. The games will be played in Reno at North Valley High School because of snow-covered fields at Truckee.

Dayton, which is winless in eight games, took an early 3-1 lead against Fallon in the top of the third inning on an error and two-run single from Justin Schmidt.

Fallon relied on the big innings for the second game in a row against Dayton, scoring four runs in the fourth and eight in the sixth. Edgar Alvarado slammed a two-run double in the fourth that gave Fallon a 4-3 lead, and first baseman Shaw Lee ripped a two-run homerun.

In the sixth inning, Brenden Larsen drove in the first run on a line-drive single, and an error led to the second run. Hayden Strasdin hit an RBI single to give Fallon a 9-3 lead. After a pitching change, Tommy McCormick greeted Schmidt with a two-run double. Galusha and Alvarado each singled home a run, and Lee doubled to left field to drive in a run.

Fallon scored a run in the second on Larsen’s sacrifice fly, and another run in the third on Chase Irvin’s double.

The Wave scored a run in each of the first three innings and the sixth.

Sean McCormick scored on a wild pitch in the first inning, Tommy McCormick drove in a run on a sacrifice fly in the second inning and Galusha drove in Sean McCormick in the third inning. Tommy McCormick score on a passed ball in the sixth.

The Wave’s Marcellus Schaffer smacked a three-run homer in the sixth.

Fallon had a solid outing from Bryce Larsen, who picked up the win. He struck out two in three innings of shutout work. Alvarado and Tommy McCormick pitched in relief. The Greenwave trio allowed only three Dayton hits.

Dayton scored its only runs in the first on an error and RBI from Jake Madson.

The three-game series sweep was gratifying for the Greenwave. Dayton took two of three games from Fallon on the last series last year, which knocked the Wave out of first place.