PREPS: Carson errors give Reno extra-inning win

RENO - For the second straight game, Carson High's baseball team had a poor defensive game, and just as they did on Tuesday, the Senators paid the price.

Carson made six errors, four by shortstop Colby Blueberg, as Reno came back from a 7-2 deficit to grab a 9-8 win in eight innings Thursday at Zunini Field.

The loss was Carson's second straight and dropped the Senators to 7-4. Reno improved to 7-2. The teams will face off again Saturday morning at 11 at Ron McNutt Field.

Carson has now made 10 errors in its last two games, and that was the focal point of coach Cody Farnworth's post-game talk.

"We made six errors and you're not going to win any games when you do that," Farnworth said. "The kids know that and I know that. They (Reno) made the plays at the end and we didn't."

"It was an ugly game," Reno coach Pete Savage. "There were a lot of mistakes by both teams. Carson has a good team with some very good players. I was just so proud of my guys. We're down 6-1 and they never stopped playing."

The Reno comeback wiped out a nice five-inning start by Charlie Banfield. The Carson right-hander allowed a run in each of the first two innings but settled down and pitched a scoreless third, fourth and fifth before departing with a 7-2 lead.

"He threw great," Farnworth said. "We got five innings out of him. He was fine."

Carson was helped to that lead by a big error in the second inning.

With the score tied at 1 and runners at second and third with two outs, Reno starter R.J. Bush tried to pick off Adam Whitt at third but was unsuccessful. Not only did Whitt score, but so did Dion Copoulos as well to make it 3-1. Copoulos went 3-for-4, his second three-hit game of the season.

"It's something the kids put in," Savage said. "It's a way to get an out in an unconventional way, I guess."

Nick Domitrovich kept the inning alive by walking, and he moved to third on Blueberg's infield single. Austin Pacheco followed with a double to left-centerfield scoring two runs for a 5-1 lead. Chance Quilling capped the surge and ended Bush's day on the mound with a run-scoring single to make it 6-1.

Reno reached Banfield for an unearned run in the second, and the score stayed 6-2 until the fifth when the Senators scored a run when Whitt drove in Quilling with a one-out single. Copoulos followed with a single, sending Whitt to second. T.J. Thomsen bunted the runners over to second and third, but Brock Pradere grounded out to first to end the inning.

"We executed that inning," Farnworth said. "When you put the ball in play, good things can happen."

Drew Moreland came on in the sixth, and that's when Reno got back in the game by scoring four unearned runs to trim the lead to 7-6. Errors by Blueberg and Pradere plus a wild pitch that scored a run and singles by Bush, Kellen Richards and Zach Paquette keyed the surge.

Casey Wolfe came on in the seventh and allowed an unearned run. After a leadoff double, Alex Graybar dropped down a bunt which Wolfe mishandled, putting runners at first and third. An error by Blueberg enabled Reno to tie the game at 7. Wolfe escaped without further damage.

Grant Kukuk started the eighth for the Huskies, and he quickly got the first two outs of the inning. Blueberg smashed a double to left-centerfield and scored on a two-out error to give Carson an 8-7 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, Whitt allowed a single and two walks to start the inning. An infield out tied the game at 8, and Mitch Warden's hard groundball was misplayed allowing the winning run to score with two outs.