Jake Rasner has proven himself to be someone that could be a key player for the Carson High baseball team this season.
The freshman provided his second straight solid start for the Senators in their 7-1 win over Fernley on Tuesday at Ron McNutt Field. Backed up by strong efforts from Eugene Soulier and Jarrod Bone, Rasner picked up his second win for Carson. Last week, Rasner won in his debut at Lassen.
"He's getting stronger each time out," Carson coach Ron McNutt said. "He's going to help us."
Leadoff hitter Jon Teeter filled his role well by going 2-for-2 with three runs and three stolen bases to help pace the Senators' offense. Aaron Henry also went 2-for-2 with a double and Murph Glover had two doubles and two runs for Carson (11-2).
The Senators return to Sierra League action on Thursday at North Valleys and then will host North Valleys in a twi-light doubleheader, beginning at 5 p.m. Friday. Tim Priess will start for Carson on Thursday.
It figures that Carson should sweep North Valleys. But after the Senators barely escaped with a win against North Valleys at its own tournament, McNutt said his team isn't taking anything for granted. "These are three games that we've got to have," McNutt said.
After North Valleys comes a 16-team wooden bat tournament in Las Vegas for the Senators.
"Hopefully when we come back from there, we'll be ready to go down the final stretch," McNutt said.
Fernley's Matt Lambeth pitched a solid two innings, not allowing a hit as the game was tied going into the third. But Fernley returns to Northern 3A action on Saturday in a doubleheader against North Tahoe. Fernley coach James Huckaby used his pitchers on a limited basis against Carson that he expects to use against North Tahoe, including Lambeth.
As it did last year when Fernley won the NIAA/U.S. Bank 3A state title, the Vaqueros are continuing to face as much 4A competition as they can.
"It helped us out last year," said Huckaby about winning state. "This is the type of pitching and the type of teams you have to play.
"We need to see this kind of competition and play to this level of competition if we're going to be competitive in the long run. My philosophy is it's not good to kick somebody's butt. We'll see in the long run if it's good for us or not."
Huckaby was pleased with his team's showing after it lost to Carson 11-0 in the Senators' tournament.
"I think our pitchers did a pretty good job," Huckaby said. "The first time we were here, Carson drilled us."
Lambeth walked Teeter and hit Carl Winter with a pitch in the first. Ben Moore's sacrifice bunt moved the runners up and Teeter scored on a groundout to make it 1-0.
Danny Regalado and Adam Schwab each singled to help Fernley tie the score 1-1 in the third. In the bottom of the third, Teeter walked, Winter singled and Teeter went on to score on a throwing error.
Moore's sacrifice fly scored Winter, Glover doubled and Carson took a 4-1 lead on Neil Holmes' sacrifice fly.
In the fourth, Henry singled, Teeter reached on a bunt single and Winter's sacrifice fly made it 5-1. In the fifth, Glover doubled and Rodney Black followed with an RBI single to make it 6-1.
In the seventh, Teeter singled, stole second and third and eventually scored to give Carson a 7-1 lead.
Rasner went four innings for the win. Soulier pitched two scoreless innings while striking out five and Bone pitched a scoreless seventh, striking out two. "They did a good job," said McNutt about Soulier and Bone.
Matt Molina doubled and Andy Rupley singled for Fernley.
