Douglas defeats the Spartans

RENO - Douglas' second victory at the Joe DiMaggio State Tournament may prove to be a costly one.

The Tigers used three-run homers by Kyle Luken and Luke Rippee in an eight-run fifth inning en route to a 12-7 victory over the Sierra Spartans Thursday afternoon at Wooster High School.

The win moved the Tigers into a semifinal matchup with the Sun Devils today at 2 p.m. at Wooster, and they may have to play the game without Brandon Huff, their projected starting pitcher.

Huff injured his right ankle when he stepped awkwardly on second base when he doubled in the eight-run sixth inning.

"I was looking at coach (Glover), and my foot hit the outside of the bag," Huff said. "I think I'll be fine."

Watching him limp off the field after the game, his comments may be more of the wishful thinking variety.

Glover was unsure of who would start if Huff is unable to throw today. "I have no idea," Glover said. "We'll get there when we get there. The plan is that Brandon will pitch tomorrow (today)."

The logical choices would be either Bryan Miller or Tyson Estes. Another possibility could be Jimmy Pierce, who finished up Thursday's win.

No matter who pitches, the pressure will be on the Douglas offense to continue its hot hitting. The Tigers have pounded out 24 hits in two games.

Chris Honer helped his own cause with a run-scoring single in the first, and Rippee (2-for-4, 5 RBI) doubled home two runs in the second to make it 3-0.

The Spartans cut the lead to 3-2 with two unearned runs in the top of the fifth off Honer, who finished with 10 strikeouts. Two errors by shortstop Jeff Young and one by Chad Walling led to the scores.

Douglas, thanks to two Spartan mistakes, roared back in its half of the fifth. All eight runs in the fifth turned out to be unearned.

With one out, Pierce and Honer reached on errors. After Huff struck out looking, Luken launched a three-run, off-field homer to give the Tigers a 6-2 lead.

"That was huge at that point of the game," Glover said. "We talk a lot about getting hits and scoring runs with two outs."

Miller, who doubled and tripled, walked and stole second after the homer. He scored when Jake Stratten's groundball was misplayed by first baseman Tim Thompson. Young doubled off the fence in right, scoring Stratten from second base. After Walling walked, Rippee hammered a three-run homer, his second round-tripper of the tournament.

The Spartans made it interesting in the sixth, scoring five runs off Honer, who had breezed through the first four innings.

Kameron Davis and Thompson contributed run-scoring singles, Nate Greenside walked with the bases loaded and Clayton Spicer drove in a run on a fielder's choice. The other run scored on a wild pitch.

"He (Honer) ran into a wall," Glover said. "He pitched a good game the first five innings."

"It wasn't that I was getting tired, I just couldn't throw strikes," Honer said. "I wasn't pitching like I did at the beginning of the game."