MINDEN - The job of a leadoff hitter is to reach base anyway you can, and Douglas High's Marc Walling has done exactly that lately.
In the past three games, Walling is 4-for-7, has scored 11 runs, walked six times and driven in five runs.
All five of those RBIs came Tuesday, as Walling homered twice in the Tigers' 11-5 win over Lowry in a nonleague baseball game.
The Tigers have won their last seven and eight of their last nine since losing back-to-back games against Wooster last month. One would be hard-pressed to find a hotter baseball squad in Northern Nevada.
"We're swinging it well," said Douglas coach John Glover, whose squad rapped out 10 hits. "We have to score runs to win games, and we're doing a good job at the plate.
"I'm happy with the way Marc swung the bat today. You'll never mistake him for a clean-up guy or power guy. He does have good bat speed, and when he gets the barrel out there, then good things happen."
Walling singled and came around to score on Bryan Miller's first-inning single. Brandon Huff's bloop single scored Miller to give Douglas a quick 2-0 lead.
Lowry scored one in the second off Tyson Estes, who was making his varsity debut. Estes pitched 4 1/3 innings allowing three runs (two earned) and six hits. Pat Hughes finished up, throwing the final 2 2/3 innings, allowing three hits.
Douglas made it 5-1 in the third on the strength of Miller's run-scoring double, a run-scoring triple by Austin Graham and a sacrifice fly by Huff. Miller is 7-for-10 with six RBIs in his last three games.
Lowry cut the lead to 5-2 in the fourth, but Douglas made it 7-2 on Walling's two-run homer. Walling made it 10-2 in the fifth with a two-out, three-run homer to left. It was his third hit of the game.
"I think they were both fastballs," said Walling, whose power display more than made up for three fielding miscues.
"That was uncharacteristic of Marc," Glover said. "I'm not worrying about it. I don't think I've ever seen him make three errors in a game in his life. He's doing a great job for us out there."
Miller and Huff each finished with two hits. Huff drove in three runs.
