Carson baseball edges Douglas

MINDEN -- Jake Rasner gave Carson High baseball fans a good look at the future Thursday afternoon.

Rasner, a sophomore right-hander, scattered four hits over six innings, and Neil Holmes drove in two runs, to lead the visiting Senators to a 5-4 win over Douglas in the Sierra League opener.

The teams continue the series Saturday with a 10 a.m. doubleheader at Carson, weather permitting.

"Overall, I thought the kids did a good job," Carson coach Ron McNutt said. "Rasner might have gotten a little tired. It's early in the season. He's just going to get better and stronger.

"I was a little disappointed with our hitting. We left 11 runners on. I thought we might have swung the bat a little better."

Rasner, who blanked Douglas on one hit over the first four innings, admitted that he was fatigued when McNutt took him out after Jake Neilsen walked to start the seventh.

"I hadn't gone that long in quite a while," Rasner said. "When I get tired I get lazy (with mechanics).

"I've been working on that (spotting the fastball). I've got a lot better control this year. It was tough out there. It was tough to keep your balance out there because of the wind."

Ryan Henry relieved Rasner, and the Tigers, trailing 5-2, kept pecking away.

Henry retired Marc Walling on a pop fly to second base. Austin Graham followed with a ground ball deep behind third base that was bobbled by Eric Melendez, putting runners on first and second. Henry walked Brandon Huff on four pitches to load the bases.

James Bunting worked the count full, and then hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Neilsen to make it 5-3. Bryan Miller drove in Graham with a single to center to make it 5-4.

Henry sent the Carson fans home smiling when he struck out Luke Rippee on a 2-2 curve ball.

"We battled a little bit," Douglas coach John Glover said, "but it was too little, too late. We didn't get it done (as far as clutch hitting goes). You have to give Rasner credit. He kept us off balance. He's only going to get tougher. He's the best pitcher we've faced all year.

"We had some positives. Chris Honer did a great job in his first league start on the mound. That might clear up some questions on who is going to get the job done."

Honer gave up a run in the first when Jon Teeter singled and eventually scored on Holmes' infield out. The Senators made it 3-0 in the third thanks to a walk, error, hit batsman and a single by Holmes.

The Tigers scored single runs in the fifth and sixth thanks to a sacrifice fly by Graham and an error on Brandon Silveira's ground ball.

NOTES: The win was Carson's 19th in the last 22 games against Douglas. Between 1995 and 2001, Douglas had lost 18 straight before it won two of three last year...Henry and Scott DeFriez will start Saturday for Carson against Austin Graham and Brandon Huff... Neither team hit in the clutch. Carson left 11 runners on, while Douglas stranded 10... Willie Bowman, whose nose was broken when he was hit by a pitch in a game Monday against Fallon, was able to play and went 2-for-3.