Baseball: Fallon rallies for regional championship

A day after advancing to the state tournament for the second year in a row, the Greenwave baseball team came from behind in the Northern 3A regional championship, winning it in the last at-bat on Saturday.

Down 3-0 in the seventh inning on Saturday, Fallon tied the game against Spring Creek before walking it off in the next inning when James Kelsey’s hit brought home Baylor Sandberg for the 4-3 win at Spring Creek High School.

Fallon will be the No. 1 seed from the region in the state tournament, which begins today at the Edward Arciniega Athletic Complex. Fallon takes on the South’s No. 2 seed, The Meadows, at 1 p.m., while Spring Creek faces Virgin Valley at 4 p.m. The tournament resumes on Friday with a championship semifinal and pair of consolations. The championship game is at 10 a.m. on Saturday with the if game to follow.

With a trip to state already locked, the Greenwave bats struggled against Spring Creek until the final inning.

Kelsey led off the seventh inning with a double to center and was out at third on Bryce Adams’ fielder’s choice to the pitcher. Eric Cornejo and Trevor Hyde singled to load the bases with Luis Lopez, running for Adams, at third.

Anthony Juarez drove in the first run with a right-field single to score Lopez. After Isaac Martinez grounded into a fielder’s choice for the second out, Brady Alves singled in two runs to tie the game.

Sandberg lined the first pitch of the next inning down right field for a triple before Kelsey drove a 1-2 pitch into right field to win the game.

Adams pitched 7.1 innings before being relieved by Evan Giovanetti, who recorded the last two outs in the eighth for the win.

The day before didn’t involve a dramatic finish as Fallon ended the 11-1 win over Wooster in fifth innings.

Sandberg struck out nine in the complete game while giving up an earned run on one hit and five walks.

Kelsey and Adams led Fallon with two RBIs apiece, while Sandberg and Nathaniel Zachary each drove in one.

Like the regional championship, Kelsey ended the Wooster game with a double to score Sandberg and Chase Carnahan and invoke the mercy rule.

The bats were hot in Fallon’s first game of the tournament on Thursday when the offense erupted for eight runs in the third inning to lead 11-2 over Elko. The Indians, though, came back with five in the sixth before Fallon responded with three in the bottom half to win the game, 14-7.

Adams led the team with three hits and drove in four runs, and Carnahan, Sandberg and Carter Paul each had two RBIs.

Kelsey pitched 5.1 innings and struck out eight in the win.