Carson 15s advance to finals

Carson 15-year-old Babe Ruth All-Star Baseball team manager Trent Osmer keep uses the word unbelievable to describe his club.

Not unbelievable in hard to imagine, but unbelievable in how well his team has played. Carson earned a trip to the championship round in the state tournament with a 14-4 win over South Tahoe on Wednesday at South Tahoe.

Since losing to South Tahoe 13-7 on Saturday, Carson has won four straight and will play Reno South in today's championship round. The two teams will square off at 4:30 p.m. and if Carson wins, it will force another game at 7 for the title.

"It's just unbelievable," Osmer said. "Since the first game they've just played good ball every game. I'm just so proud of them."

Joe Skates pitched a complete game, striking out seven and allowing two earned runs in the game that was called after six innings due to the 10-run rule. Carson also banged out 15 hits as every starter in the lineup had at least one hit.

Johnny Hazeltine, David Leid, Tony Fagan, Christian Volker and Markus Adams all had two hits and Skates, Caleb Carter, Bryt Lewis and T.J. Hein all added a hit and Kyle Mandoki also had a pinch-hit single. "He's unbelievable," said Osmer about Mandoki, who's now 6-for-8 in the tournament.

Osmer also had high praise for Lewis and Hein. "I have two players that are just unbelievable," Osmer said.

Hein scored three runs on Wednesday and has scored 11 runs in the tournament and Lewis had two runs against South Tahoe and has scored 10 runs in the tournament. Lewis has also led Carson's outstanding defense at third base. "He's been stopping everything," Osmer said. "The kids are playing excellent d."

Lewis, Carter and Hein all had two RBI and Skates added an RBI. Osmer praised Skates' performance on the mound and at the plate as he continues to use a wood bat.

"He changes his speeds so well," Osmer said. "He's hitting everything since he's switched to his wood bat."

Osmer said he was pleased that he was able to play all 15 players as well. "I'm pleased that we played our game and we beat them this time," he said. "Their team is managed well and they're really good sports. They were a tough team."

Reno South figures to be a daunting opponent as it reached the championship round with a 16-0 win over South Tahoe. But Carson is set up well for possibly two games against Reno South as its two best pitchers, Kyle Mandoki and Tony Fagan, each have seven innings left.

"It really helps our lineup when Mandoki's on the mound," Osmer said. "He's just as dangerous offensively as he is excellent on the mound."

To prepare for today's championship round, Osmer said his team will have batting practice against Carson High graduate Jason Alcasas, a right-handed pitcher, and CHS senior-to-be Wes Osmer, a left-handed pitcher.

"We're really looking forward to it," said coach Osmer about the meeting with Reno South.