After defense and pitching carried the Douglas baseball team through the Northern 4A Regional tournament last week, the Tiger offense picked up its share of the load Thursday night in the first round of the NIAA 4A State Baseball Tournament in Las Vegas.
Douglas overcame five errors on defense to pick up a 9-5 win over Cimarron-Memorial at the College of Southern Nevada, exploding on offense against the Spartans Brad Oswald, who had been carrying an 0.80 ERA entering the game.
"The first win is important," Douglas coach John Glover said. "We didn't play very well defensively, but we hung in there. The kids hit the ball well, spread throughout the lineup and we came up with some big hits at big times. They looked better than they did last week for sure."
The Tigers pounded out nine hits and had back-to-back four-run innings in the second and third to overcome an early 3-0 deficit.
"We had some errors there in the top of the second but the kids didn't get down, they answered right back," Glover said. "They didn't seem starstruck, but there were definitely some nerves. It's big to overcome that.
"The kids know now that they don't have to play perfect baseball to win here. If you're trying to play perfect, it ups the pressure even more. They know they can handle a little adversity."
Some of the offensive highlights for the Tigers included a solo home run from Tyler May in the fifth, an RBI triple from Jeff Crozier in the third, RBI doubles from Kameron Van Winkle and Tanner Thomas and a two-RBI single from Troy Torres.
Tyler Hoelzen started the game on the mound and picked up the win, striking out four, while Michael Whalin pitched the final two innings to pick up his first career save.
Next up for Douglas is nationally-ranked Bishop Gorman, who beat Green Valley 2-1 in eight innings earlier in the day. The Gaels beat the Tigers 8-0 at the Gorman Easter Invitational last month.
Gorman's ace, Jeff Malm, went all eight innings in the game.
"We know if you want to be the state champs, you are going to have to beat a team like this," Glover said. "We're going to try to stay in the game and see what happens. We're excited to play them."
First pitch is at 3 p.m. Friday. Check www.recordcourier.com for regular score updates throughout and after the game.
