Carson High's five-game winning streak came to an ugly end Tuesday afternoon at Ron McNutt Field.
Damonte Ranch exploded for five third-innings runs en route to a 7-1 Northern 4A baseball win over the Senators, who made three of their four errors in the decisive third inning.
Carson dropped to 7-3 in league play entering Thursday's game at Reno. The Senators will then host the Huskies on Saturday at 11 a.m.
"We just weren't very good today," Carson coach Cody Farnworth said. "Credit goes to Damonte because they did things right. When you don't play defense, this tends to happen."
Damonte coach Jon Polson said it was his team's biggest win of the year.
"It was important to play well going into our bye week," he said. "It was the most important game we've played. The kids responded to what we talked about after Saturday's game."
Damonte took a 1-0 lead in the second when Trent Beers doubled and scored on a triple to left-centerfield by Alec Hernandez. Carson starter Adam Whitt retired the next three hitters, two by strikeout, to keep the damage at a minimum.
He wasn't so fortunate in the third, however.
Kyle Bailey beat out a bunt single down the third-base line. Max Heckendorn dropped down a bunt, and Whitt made a poor throw to first, allowing Bailey to score. Bailey, who reached second on the play, was sacrificed to third by Matt Gover, and scored on a single by Justin Bridgman to make it 3-0.
Beers singled and reached second when right fielder Austin Pacheco couldn't come up with the ball cleanly. Bridgman reached third on the play, and both runners scored on a double by Alec Hernandez to make it 5-0. Nate Nolan's single scored the fifth and final run of the inning to make it 6-0, and the hit also finished Whitt's day on the mound.
In came Drew Moreland, who worked the final 4.1 innings, his longest relief stint of the season. He allowed a run and four hits and did his job in stabilizing the game, but the offense continued to struggle against righty O'Keefe Hall.
"We have confidence in Drew," Farnworth said. "He expects that (to do well) and so do we. He came in and shut them down."
"I just tried to keep them where they were," Moreland said. "I tried to keep them off balance. My arm feels great. It's getting stronger as the season goes. Last year my arm hurt most of the time."
Trailing 6-0, Carson finally got on the board in the fifth when Brock Pradere singled to left-centerfield and scored on a double to right-centerfield by Nick Domitrovich, who has now hit in eight straight games. In the span, he's hitting .481, and he's given the Senators some consistency out of the leadoff spot.
"I like it (leadoff)," Domitrovich said. "I need to cut down on my strikeouts and just put the ball in play."
Damonte tagged Moreland for a run in the sixth when Nolan was hit by a pitch and came a round to score on a single by Matt Olson.
The Mustangs threatened in the seventh, but Pacheco threw out Heckendorn at the plate for the first out of the inning. He had tried to score on a single by Gover.
Hall left after six innings and was replaced by Heckendorn, who pitched a scoreless seventh.
"He (Hall) has been the guy for us," Polson said. "The last three starts he's made have been pretty good."
Carson also helped by swinging at a lot of pitches high in the strike zone. Hall was able to throw his off-speed stuff for strikes which helped keep the potent Senator offense at bay.
