The Douglas High baseball team got off to an impressive start to the season by beating Lowry 14-4 and McQueen 10-9 on Friday at Reno High in the Sierra Nevada Classic.
"Our pitching is still a big question mark," said Douglas coach John Glover, who is carrying only 14 players. "We're going to have to figure out a rotation."
Douglas does have ace Austin Graham, who has signed with the University of Nevada. Chris Honer and Brandon Huff went a long ways to answering the questions that Douglas has in its pitching with two solid outings.
Graham also led a strong offensive effort for the Tigers, going 7-for-10 in the two games.
Honer struck out eight and walked none in six innings against Lowry in a game that was called after six innings due to the 10-run rule. Huff was 3-for-5 with two doubles and a home run, Graham went 3-for-5, Stormy Herald went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, Luke Rippee went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and Brian Miller and Jake Nielsen each were 2-for-5 for Douglas.
Against McQueen, Graham went 4-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs, Miller was 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs, Rippee went 3-for-4 with a home run and a triple, Kyle Luken was 3-for-4 with a double, James Bunting went 2-for-4 and Nielsen was 2-for-5.
"I was happy with how we hit the ball and our approach at the plate," Glover said.
Huff struck out five through six innings. Douglas led 10-4 going into the bottom of the seventh when McQueen scored five runs. Rippee got the last two outs to pick up the save.
The win looks impressive as McQueen beat Reed 14-3 on Thursday.
"McQueen is going to be one of the better teams," Glover said. "It was good to see where we're at early in the year."
Douglas will play today at 10 a.m. against Spanish Springs and at 1 p.m. against Galena. Both games are at Galena.
