Fallon senior Tyler Austin led the team at the plate with a line-drive home run in Friday’s win over Dayton.
The Fallon-Dayton baseball opener saw several early lead changes before the Greenwave came back for the 10-8 road win last Friday in Lyon County.
The doubleheader was delayed due to weather, and Fallon traveled to Dayton on Monday to resume the series. Fallon (6-5 Northern 3A) returns home on Friday to host Elko at 3 p.m. at the Edward Arciniega Athletic Complex. Fallon also faces Elko on Saturday for a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m.
After jumping to an early 4-0 lead, Fallon battled back in the sixth inning to retake the lead for the final time.
Tyler Austin reached on a one-out error and Baylor Sandberg was hit in the next at-bat. After an infield flyout, Austin stole third on the third pitch with Damien Towne at the plate. On the next pitch, Towne singled in Austin to break the tie, 9-8.
Francisco Tapia, who relieved Towne in the previous inning, ran into trouble again in the bottom half of the sixth when Dayton singled and walked in the first two at-bats. Tapia, though, induced another groundout for the first out but the Dust Devils advanced both runners into scoring position. A strikeout looking and popup ended the threat.
Fallon added an insurance run when Rolland Grondin singled in Carter Paul, who led off the seventh inning with an infield single.
Steven Moon pitched to the first batter of the final inning but was relieved after hitting the first batter. James Kelsey took over and struck out the next two before getting a groundout for the final out of the game.
With Austin at the plate in the first inning, Cooper Lee scored on a catcher error before Austin doubled in Kelsey to give Fallon a 2-0 lead. Sandberg’s grounder on the next play resulted in another Dust Devil error as Austin scored for the third run of the inning and no recorded outs.
A strikeout and runner caught stealing gave Dayton two outs but Fallon scored its fourth run when Brady Alves’ grounder was botched in the infield, allowing Grondin to score.
Back-to-back singles in the second inning allowed Dayton to cut the deficit to one run (4-3) before an RBI groundout tied the game. A passed ball broke the tie.
Austin’s second home run of the year, a three-run line drive to center, helped Fallon regain the lead, 7-5, after Cooper Lee and Kelsey singled in the fourth. Towne’s single scored Sandberg for an 8-5 lead.
Dayton chipped away at the deficit with a run in the fourth on another RBI groundout before tying the game in the next inning.
With Tapia pitching in relief, the senior hurler induced a groundout to open the fifth inning. A full-count walk put a runner on first for Dayton but a groundout to Sandberg at third had Fallon one out away from ending the inning. Dayton, though, loaded the bases and tied the game on a line drive to right field. A groundout ended the inning, keeping the game tied at eight.
Towne started for Fallon, going four innings, and allowed six runs on seven hits while striking out six.
