WINNEMUCCA - Carson High School and Lowry combined for 17 runs in the fifth and deciding inning, but the wild finish was still enough to give the visiting Senators a 17-7 victory over the Buckaroos in a Northern 4A baseball game on Thursday afternoon.
The Senators scored 11 runs in the top of the fifth to take a 17-1 lead, and they stood to easily beat Lowry by the 10-run mercy rule.
It almost didn't happen that quickly, though, as the Buckaroos scored six runs to chase Carson relief pitcher Tim Woodside before Ben Moore came in and shut the door on the rally.
"We still struggled in the last inning," Carson coach Ron McNutt said. "All the runs were unearned. We would have been out of it, but what would have been the third out bounced between one of our kids' legs. It's unfortunate, because Tim hasn't been able to pitch much and we wanted him to finish it out."
Carson jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning, capped by Brian Kleidosty's three-run homer. Kleidosty finished the game 3-for-3. The Senators then added two more runs in the fourth inning before rallying for the runs that would give them the early decision.
Randy Loff pitched well for Carson, giving up only an earned run in the second inning. He struck out four and walked one while surrendering only two hits.
Nick Gitthens and Shea Salazar also homered for the Senators. Gitthens was 2-for-2 with a pair of RBIs, while Salazar was 1-for-1 with two RBIs.
Evan McQuirk, Joe Mercer, Carl Winter and Marc Liveratti all picked up hits for the Senators.
"It was good that we jumped out on them early like that," McNutt said. "It gave us a good chance to play a lot of our kids."
Carson travels to Reed for a doubleheader at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
