On a day where a win over a team that had gone winless until the past weekend would have clinched a playoff spot, the Douglas baseball team was left searching for answers.
Douglas fell 2-0 to North Valleys in Reno Tuesday, wasting a complete-game five-hit effort from senior Matt Thomas on the mound.
Douglas dropped to 7-10 on the year with only three games remaining in the regular season while North Valleys followed up an impressive sweep of McQueen over the weekend to improve to 3-14 on the year.
"Matt did what he has been doing all year and quite honestly, he was dominant," Douglas coach Bruce Jacobsen said. "With the way we've been swinging it the last two weeks, if you would've told me he'd give up just two runs today, I would have said it was an easy win.
"But we came out flat, and never really found our way back in. We play well on defense, we had great pitching, but the bats fell out on us. We just didn't get the job done today."
Douglas hosts North Valleys today, travels to Reno, who is in the thick of a battle for the regular season title, Thursday and hosts Reno to close out the regular season Friday.
"We have to get it figured out," Jacobsen said. "It's a big week. If we can string a win or two together, we're in."
Walker Gemmill and Cody Begovich each had a pair of hits in the game while Scott Rudnick, Shane Fencl and Leo Trebotich each had one.
SOFTBALL
Tigers see playoff hopes disappear
The Douglas softball team saw its playoff hopes all but disappear Tuesday afternoon as Bishop Manogue ruined the Lady Tigers' senior day, picking up a 10-7, 7-6 sweep in Minden.
Douglas entered the week locked in a tie for the fourth and final playoff spot with Galena at 4-9.
The Grizzlies have a game at Reno and a doubleheader against winless Wooster to close out the regular season, along with holding the hammer in any tiebreaker over the Tigers thanks to a doubleheader sweep earlier in the year.
Douglas finishes out at McQueen Thursday and would need a win coupled with three Galena losses to make the playoffs.
Against Manogue Tuesday, Douglas had two late-game rallies fall short.
Manogue jumped out to a 5-0 lead in game one and had to hold off a late charge to hold on for the win. Douglas chipped away at the lead throughout and strung a big seventh inning together to make it close.
Naomi Roberts drew a walk to get the rally going and Brenna White homered to cut the score to 10-5. Kelly Sonnemann drew a walk and Illiana Brown doubled to score Sonnemann.
Aliyah Paxson followed with a single to bring Brown home, capping the scoring.
Manogue pitcher Megan Dortch was strong during the game, striking out 14. Taylor McKinnon took the loss, striking out two and walking three.
White, Sonnemann and Brown all had doubles, Paxson went 3-for-5 and White and Brown each drove in two runs.
Douglas lead for a good portion of game two, fighting out to a 3-2 lead early and later pushing it to 5-4 before Manogue scored three over the final two innings to go ahead.
