Baseball: Van Winkle pitches Tigers to win

It was the first game of the Sierra League season, and Douglas High's

Kameron Van Winkle already is in mid-season form.

Van Winkle fanned six batters and scattered six hits to lead the Tigers to a

5-2 win over Carson on Thursday afternoon at Ron McNutt Field.

The teams will continue their three-game series Saturday with an 11 a.m.

doubleheader at Douglas. Douglas is now 3-2 overall, while Carson fell to

1-3.

"I thought he threw a good game," Douglas coach John Glover said. "He walked

one and hit one and threw key pitches for strikes. We don't know their

hitters very well. Kameron when he gets the ball down in the zone is a

groundball pitcher. I think our defense did a good job."

Van Winkle showed good command of both his fastball and curveball. He needed

just 83 pitches to seal the win.

"I was just trying to get ahead no matter what pitch I threw," said the

Douglas right-hander. "I was just trying to keep them off balance with the

curveball. I'm happy (with my command), but I'm more happy with the defense.

They did a very good job."

Douglas took a 1-0 lead in the first inning despite the fact that Colby

Blueberg struck out the side. Blueberg was called for a balk, which scored

Danny King, who started the game with an infield single.

The Tigers added two more in the third, taking advantage of a two-run

throwing error by Nick Domitrovich and another balk by Blueberg, who allowed

three earned runs and seven hits in five-plus innings.

"It's like I told the kids, you can't make mistakes against a team like

Douglas, throwing the ball, fielding the ball and balks," Carson coach Cody

Farnworth said. "Douglas will make you pay.

"I thought he (Blueberg) threw well. We didn't back him up at first. We had

a couple of errors and he had the two balks. I thought he did a good job. Is

there room for improvement? Sure. We still have a goal (to win every

series), but we have to come out and play."

Carson closed the gap to 3-1 in the third when Austin Pacheco slammed a

homer well over the fence in left field.

"It was a fastball down the middle," Pacheco said. "He (Van Winkle) is a

good pitcher. We weren't in it. I think everyone had a little (case of)

nerves. We battled in the second half of the game."

Carson threatened in the fourth, putting runners on first and third with one

out. However, Van Winkle retired David Feltner on a comebacker and struck

out David Charles looking to end the inning.

Scott Rudnick's triple led to another Douglas run in the fourth to make it

4-1. Van Winkle helped his own cause in the sixth with a sacrifice fly to

make it 5-1.

The Senators finally got things going in the bottom of the seventh when

Feltner singled and moved to second when Rudnick threw wildly to second

trying to force him out on Blake Plattsmier's groundball. Cam Mayville

singled home Feltner to make it 5-2.

The rally fizzled when the Senators failed to execute a hit-and-run, and

Plattsmier was thrown out at third for the first out.

Pacheco was hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second, but Van Winkle retired Blueberg and Brock Pradere to end the game.