On a day when things were already going badly for the Douglas baseball team, things got exponentially worse with a simple bloop single out to right field.
The Tigers were trailing McQueen 9-0 in the top of the sixth in Minden Tuesday afternoon when Lancer left fielder Justin Surina led the inning off with a pop fly to shallow right.
Douglas right fielder Tyler May, who is also the team's ace pitcher this season, charged in and laid out in an attempt to make a play on the ball but landed awkwardly on his throwing arm, injuring his shoulder.
After nearly a half-hour delay, he was taken off the field on a stretcher and transported to the Carson Valley Medical Center by ambulance.
"It's too early to know the extent of it," Douglas coach John Glover said. "We're headed over to the hospital now and we'll know more. We're just hoping he is OK."
Once play resumed, the Lancers pushed ahead to a 12-3 win, pounding out 12 hits on a day where the Tiger defense committed an uncharacteristic six errors.
"It was one of those days where you just wish you never showed up to the field," Glover said. "We got beat in every facet of the game.
"It's one of the reasons we love baseball " it worked against us today " anybody can beat anybody on any given day.
"Today was a great indication of that. Things just weren't going well and McQueen put a butt whoopin' on us."
It's not even that the Tiger bats were quiet in the contest, as they put up nine hits of their own, but they twice left the bases loaded without bringing any runs across and stranded a total of 12 baserunners in the game.
Tim Rudnick took the start and was effective on the mound, striking out three while giving up one hit and no runs.
Troy Torres also struck out three in relief for the Tigers while Kameron VanWinkle and Jordan Hadlock each struck out one.
Zach McFadden led the Tigers at the plate, going 2-for-3 with an RBI. Hadlock doubled and had an RBI, Tanner Thomas tripled and Tyler Hoelzen drove in Douglas' remaining run.
McQueen (5-11) did the bulk of its damage with a five-run third after the first two batters struck out.
Phil Sacks led the Lancers with two doubles and two RBIs while Tyler York and Anthony Stollo each had two hits and an RBI.
Douglas (12-6) will regroup and travel to North Valleys Thursday before returning home Saturday for a doubleheader against the Panthers starting at 10 a.m.
"It's one of those deals where you just have to forget about it," Glover said. "If you let that bother you for a week, it'll eat you up.
"You always know in baseball that there will be days where this kind of thing happens. You hope they don't come around very often.
"We just have to get back to work tomorrow and get ready for North Valleys."
