Two days after Carson shutout South Tahoe 10-0, nothing unexpected happened in Saturday's doubleheader between the two teams. And that's exactly what should've happened.
"It's a three-game series that we should've swept," said Senator coach Ron McNutt. "Anything else would've been unacceptable."
Acceptable works.
Carl Winter went 2-for-2 with a solo home run and Todd Hendrix struck out eight batters in a 12-2 win in game one. In the second game, Ryan Henry struck out six and Murph Glover belted a three-run homer and had four RBIs in a 16-1 win, the largest margin of victory this season for Carson.
Both games were decided in five innings, as was Thursday's game. The Senators (10-2 overall, 4-2 league) roughed up the Vikings' pitchers for 23 hits in the two games. Winter led the way, going a perfect 5-for-5 along with two RBIs. Glover was 3-for-4 and Holmes went 2-for-2 with a double and a triple in the second game.
"We didn't see a whole lot of good pitching, but we were being more selective with our pitches,"Glover said. "It's nice to be able to pound the ball a little bit."
Both games had something for everyone.
Great pitching--Hendrix struck out eight of 15 batters he faced in the first game before leaving with shoulder problems. He improved to 3-0 on the season. McNutt said it was only a minor twinge in his shoulder and he'll be fine. In game two, Henry needed only three innings to pick up his second win of the season. He left the game in the fourth with the Senators up 16-1.
Power hitting--after Glover's three-run home run, Holmes followed with a triple, then Aaron Henry nearly smashed a two-run homer, but the ball struck the left field wall a few inches too low. So, instead, he doubled home Holmes to give Carson a 10-0 lead.
Bizarre plays--Jon Teeter reached on an error to start the first game, then stole second. Winter was walked after the fourth ball was a wild pitch. The catcher couldn't find the ball behind the plate, allowing Teeter to score from second. The entire time, Winter was rounding the bases and after an awful throw in attempt to get Teeter out at home, the ball ended up in the Carson dugout. Meanwhile, Winter was on his way to third and ended up scoring on the play as the Senators led 2-0.
South Tahoe committed seven errors in the two games, which led to several Carson runs. The Vikings (0-7-2, 0-5), who used five sophomore pitchers in the three-game series, are still looking for their first win of the season.
Since they always had comfortable leads, the Senators used five pitchers in only 10 innings, including Eugene Soulier and Steve Weyrick, who logged precious innings of work.
"In games like this, you want to get as many kids to throw because in tight games, you sometimes can't do that," McNutt said. "So I think that will help us. If nothing else, it sure looks good in the win-loss column."
Teeter went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, Ben Moore 2-for-3 with three RBIs, and Willie Bowman was 3-for-3 with three RBIs. Glover, who ended up with five RBIs, said Carson needed a game like this.
"This was good for our confidence after getting beat pretty bad by Douglas," said Glover, who thinks offense will be the key for this team. "Our pitching staff is real solid, but we gotta' be able to find a way to manufacture runs this season."
Carson hosts Fernley on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Ron McNutt Field. The Senators beat the Vaqueros 11-0 in three innings in the final game of the Carson High Preseason Tournament, which Carson won.
