Take away one inning and the Carson High School baseball team might have come away with a sweep.
Instead, San Ramon Valley rallied to score six runs in the fifth inning and went on to defeat the Senators 8-6 in the opening game of a thee-team doubleheader on Saturday in Danville, Calif. Carson came back to hammer out a 12-0 victory against Mt. Diablo in the nightcap.
Carson (17-5 overall) was able to travel to the Bay area to fill a void left on the schedule when Sierra League rival Hug decided not to field a varsity team this spring.
"We had a nice crowd down there and we had a lot of fun," coach Ron McNutt said. "It was good experience. San Ramon Valley has a good baseball team. It was a good game, we just happened to come up on the short end of the score."
The San Ramon Valley Wolves made the most of one hit, two outfield errors and four walks as they scored six runs to break a 2-2 tie. The Senators came back to make it close at the end as Tony Teixeira hit a solo home run in the sixth and Owen Brolsma added a three-run shot in the seventh.
Brolsma hit 2-for-2 with four RBIs and Aaron Henry 2-for-4 in the game. Mike Handley and Eric Melendez were both 1-for-3 and Teixeira 1-for-2.
Brolsma also swung a big bat in the second game against Mt. Diablo. The University of Nevada-bound catcher hit 4-for-4 with five RBIs, highlighted by a grand slam home run in the fourth inning.
Carson broke the game open after two outs in the fourth. Jeff Hurzel walked, Aaron Henry singled and Melendez walked to load the bases and set the stage for Brolsma, who drilled his grand slam to left center field.
Tony Masini hit 2-for-2, Cameron Leck and Willie Bowman were 1-for-2 with one RBI, Melendez 1-for-2 with a run-scoring double, Jason Alcasas 1-for-1 with two RBIs and Aaron Henry 1-for-2.
Ryan Henry pitched four innings of three-hit ball, struck out seven and walked one to pick up the win. Jared Wulff pitched the fifth and Dan Rotter the sixth to close out the game for Carson.
The Senators host Reed in a 7 p.m. non-league game Tuesday night.
