Carson baseball takes opener from Reed

SPARKS - A combination of muscle and patience paid off on Saturday for the Carson High School baseball team in its Northern 4A doubleheader sweep of Reed.

The Senators banged out 21 hits, including four home runs, on their way to a 19-6 five-inning victory in game one of the twinight affair at Reed. In the nightcap, Carson capitalized on 14 walks to pick up a 10-4 win.

Matt Leck hit 3-for-5 with two doubles, a home run and five RBIs in the opener. The senior first baseman went 3-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs in game two.

"I was proud of the kids," Carson coach Ron McNutt said. "The wind was blowing and it was cold up there, but our knew they had to win two and they played really well. They swung the bat, we played good defense and we got two good pitching performances."

Carson is now 12-5, good for third-place in the Northern 4A race (13-6 overall). Reed fell to 7-11.

"They were patient at the plate and we were throwing it all over the place. They sat on it and took advantage," Reed coach John Phenix said. "That's a good hitting team."

Nine different players reached the hit column in game one, led by Brian Kleidosty, Carl Winter, Marc Liveratti, Chandler Allen and Leck with three hits each. Kleidosty homered in the second inning, Leck and Allen hit back-to-back dingers in the fourth and Ben Moore ripped a pinch hit two-run homer in the fifth. Moore also homered in game two.

Joe Mercer doubled two runs home, Leck hit an RBI double and Nick Gitthens delivered a sacrifice fly to stake Carson to a 4-0 first inning lead.

Reed came back to take a 5-4 lead in the bottom half of the inning, sparked by the first of two home runs by leadoff hitter Bub Madrid.

Carson answered with four runs in the top of the second as Kleidosty hit a leadoff home run to tie the score and Leck doubled two runs home to put the Senators ahead to stay.

Chris Padgett pitched the distance and only allowed three hits after the first inning to improve his record to 5-1. Ken Heald pitched a complete game in the nightcap.

Travis Covey hit 3-for-3 and Travis Bartek was 2-for-4 with a home run for Reed in game two.