Heading into the first round of the Northern 4A Regional playoffs Tuesday afternoon, the Douglas baseball team knew it would have it's hands full against the top-ranked Reno Huskies.
Defensive miscues in the field and facing a pitcher on top of his game at the plate certainly weren't going to be bonuses for the Tigers, but that's exactly what they ran into.
The Tigers committed three errors while the High Desert League champion Huskies used a four-run second inning to catapult to a 6-0 win in Reno.
The loss puts Douglas on the brink of elimination, needing to win Wednesday afternoon against Damonte Ranch at Carson High School.
"We just didn't play the defense we needed to play," Douglas coach John Glover said of the second inning. "We gave up a two-run single and put some guys on with a couple of errors. You can't do that against a team like Reno."
Reno ace Garrett Winklemaier threw seven innings of one-hit, shutout ball, which didn't help the Tigers' cause either.
"He's done that all year," Glover said. "He throws three pitches for strikes and he locates.
"That's tough in high school. He's been their No. 1 and he does a great job for them. He kept our hitters off balance and when we managed to get a barrell on it, they'd make a good defensive play for him.
"Every ball we hit was at somebody. You have to tip your hat to Reno. They are a great ball club and they did a great job today."
Douglas ace Kameron Van Winkle pitched five innings, allowing five hits and getting out of a bases-loaded jam to end the fourth. He gave way to sophomore reliever Ryan Ford, who closed out the game with two scoreless innings.
"Kameron was at 90 pitches and we started thinking there might be a game he has to close later this week," Glover said. "We gave Fordy a shot and I thought he did real well at the end there."
Damonte was a 15-9M loser to McQueen on Tuesday. The Tigers took two of three games from the Mustangs during the regular season.
The two teams will meet up at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
"It's just fight for your life time right now," Glover said. "We have to win to stay. The kids know that, so we'll see what we can do tomorrow."
