The Galena High baseball team kept pace in the High Desert League race by sweeping a doubleheader from Elko at home on Friday.
Galena won the opener 12-2 in six innings and the nightcap 9-2. The Grizzlies improved to 8-3 in league play and hold a half-game lead over Reed and Spanish Springs in the race for first as both of those schools are 7-3.
The Grizzlies received strong pitching performances from Andrew Ferguson and freshman Jacob Anderson. Ferguson struck out five and walked none over six innings in the opener.
Anderson struck out five over six innings in the nightcap. Galena also received a lift from the return of Eric Maupin, who came back from arm problems to make his debut. Maupin pitched a scoreless seventh in the nightcap, striking out two.
"He's probably one of the better pitchers in the area," Galena coach Gary McNamara said. "The story of the day was really pitching."
Galena, though, banged out 27 hits in the doubleheader. Galena jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first inning of the opener.
The Grizzlies banged out nine hits - five doubles, a triple and a home run - in the first. J.D. Peters singled, Ferguson hit a two-run double, Tony Thompson and Eric Maupin doubled, Basim Azzam singled, Anderson doubled, Justin Arnold hit a two-run homer, Phil Diaz tripled and Justin Norvick doubled.
The game ended on the 10-run rule on Azzam's RBI double in the sixth. Peters and Thompson each had two hits, Nate Greenside was 1-for-2 with an RBI, Ferguson had three RBI, Azzam went 3-for-4 with two doubles and Anderson had two RBI.
In the nightcap, Norvick and Ferguson each went 1-for-3 with an RBI, Peters, Thompson and Jake Hess all had a hit, Maupin was 2-for-2 with an RBI, Cameron Andreola went 1-for-1, Azzam was 2-for-3 with an RBI, Arnold went 2-for-2 with a double and Rory Forbes added an RBI sacrifice fly.
