Fallon shortstop Brady Alves throws to first in Friday’s game against Fernley
A home run was the difference in the Lahontan Valley rivalry baseball series’ opener as Fernley came from behind to defeat Fallon on Friday.
After winning the opener, 8-5, the Vaqueros cruised in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, 10-1, to take the series before Fallon salvaged the final game, 11-3.
The Greenwave next competes on April 15 when Fallon travels to Dayton for a three-game series.
Fallon senior Damien Towne was strong early on in Friday’s game after Tyler Austin’s solo homer put the team out in front in the first inning. Brady Alves’ pop-fly single scored a run in the second inning but Fernley tied the game in the third on a double-steal when McIntyre, after swiping third, trotted home.
Fallon took the lead on Towne’s RBI single in the fourth inning, and Baylor Sandberg’s double scored James Kelsey, who hit an infield single with one out, in the fifth. Sandberg scored in his at-bat when he advanced on an outfielder’s errant throw, giving Fallon a 5-2 lead.
The bottom of the inning, though, saw Fernley come back to take the lead.
The first two Vaqueros reached base on an error and single followed by Gabe Tollestrup’s sac fly to score one. Ryan Gamsby’s RBI single trimmed the deficit to only a run before Towne struck out Justin Reeves for the second out.
With a runner on third, Derek Ornelas launched the 2-2 pitch over the left-field fence to complete the comeback. Back-to-back walks led to Francisco Tapia taking over on the mound where he yielded a single to Joe Mutsigner, scoring Levi Jessup.
Fernley added its eighth run in the sixth when Reeves tripled in Gamsby.
In Saturday’s opener, Fernley scored six runs in the second and third innings to set the tone.
Ornelas singled in a run in the second to give Fernley a 1-0 lead before Mustinger’s one-out line drive to center scored a pair. An RBI groundout padded the lead to 4-0.
Fernley added two more in the following inning on a bases-loaded walk and sac fly off Austin.
Isaiah Diaz drove in Fallon’s only run, an RBI single to left in the fourth.
Two errors led to two runs for Fernley in the fifth as it completed its scoring.
In the series finale, Fallon scored 11 unanswered runs after Fernley scored one in the first.
Alves and Kelsey each singled in runs and Cooper Lee’s walk added another run in the second inning.
Bryce Adams scored Diaz on an error in the third inning and Tapia singled in R Grondin, who ran for Adams. Lee’s RBI groundout gave Fallon a 7-1 lead.
Towne drove in Austin in the next inning, and Fallon added two more in the fifth when Towne’s sac fly scored Lee and Diaz’s triple scored Austin.
Adams picked up the win for Fallon, allowing three runs on seven hits against eight strikeouts.
