The Dayton High baseball team took care of business with a doubleheader sweep of Spring Creek on Saturday to keep pace in a wide open Northern 3A race.
Adam Diament pitched a shutout in the opener as Dayton won 6-0 and the Dust Devils won the nightcap 12-6. Dayton (11-3, 8-2) is among four teams along with Manogue, Truckee and North Tahoe bunched near the top of the Northern 3A.
Matt Bowman continued his red hot hitting, going 5-for-8 in the doubleheader. Over his last eight games, Bowman has gone 22-for-30 with three home runs, six doubles, two triples and 24 RBI.
The Dust Devils swept a team in Spring Creek that fell to 0-8 in the Northern 3A. "I'm very happy," Dayton coach Craig Miller said. "Spring Creek's been struggling this year but they still have some good athletes on their team."
Diament pitched a five-hit, complete game shutout, striking out eight. Bowman was 2-for-4 with an RBI, Tim Torres went 3-for-4 with two RBI, Casey Skog had a hit and two RBI, Danny Hopped had a hit and an RBI, Matt Hornback had two hits and Andrew Rice and Diament each added a hit.
In the nightcap, Dayton took a 5-4 lead into the seventh inning when it scored seven runs to break the game open, scoring all seven runs with two outs. Justin Cross and Hopper each belted two-run doubles, Bowman hit an RBI double and Tom O'Brien hit a two-run home run, his first varsity homer, during the rally.
Bowman went 3-for-4 with four RBI, Skog was 2-for-4 with an RBI, Cross went 3-for-5 and Torres and Hornback each added hits. Skog pitched the last four innings for the win.
DAYTON SOFTBALL SWEEPS
Nicole Greer pitched all 15 innings to pick up both wins as the Dayton softball team evened its league mark at 2-2 with a sweep at Spring Creek. Dayton won the opener 4-2 in eight innings and won the nightcap 5-1.
Greer struck out 11 in the opener. Dayton trailed 2-0 in the sixth when Jessie Ayres led off with a win and Amanda Sbragia walked. Both pulled off a double steal to move up to second and third. Ayres scored on Greer's groundball and Sbragia scored on Sara Simmons' hit.
In the eighth, Sbragia moved Ayres to second on a sacrifice bunt and Greer walked. Ayres and Greer pulled off a double steal to move up to second and third. Simmons singled home Ayres and Greer scored on an error on the play. Simmons had two hits and two RBI and Ayres scored two runs.
In the nightcap, Greer pitched a three-hitter, striking out five. Dayton also played strong defense behind Greer, making just one error in the two games.
Keeli Garcia doubled, Ayres had a hit, Sbragia had a hit and a run, Greer helped her own cause by going 2-for-3 with a double and a run, Simmons went 2-for-4 with two runs and Lauren Fisher added an RBI for the Dust Devils.
"She did a very good job," said Dayton coach Dusti Houk about Greer. "She pitched 15 strong innings. She moved the ball around."
