Douglas tops McQueen, Reed

While the games didn’t count in the league standings, the Douglas High baseball team had a big day Wednesday at the Spanish Springs Tournament.

Douglas snapped a three-game losing streak by defeating McQueen 10-4.

Later in the day, the Tigers edged Reed 4-3 with some sixth-inning heroics.

“Walking away with a pair of wins against Division I teams, we’ll take that every day,” Douglas coach Bruce Jacobsen said. “Reed is a good team. They’ll be right in the mix and we have them coming to our place in two weeks. That’ll be a huge series for us.”

Against McQueen, Cale Kynett homered, Joe Almeida doubled and Nolan Weintz doubled to lead the Douglas offense.

“Joe has really been feeling it lately,” Jacobsen said. “He’s been swinging it in practice and he had a couple big pinch hits last week.

“We give him a couple starts this week and he’s making the most of it. He has not let us down, and he’s just battled all four years here. He’s put himself in the mix for the last part of the season, both at first base and at designated hitter.”

Kyle Johnson picked up the win on the mound for the Tigers.

Douglas got another standout effort in the nightcap as Dalton Grisell pitched the Tigers past Reed.

“He gave up a two-run homer in the first and another run in the third and that was it,” Jacobsen said. “He really threw well. He gave us a complete game, which was huge. He’s stepped up and earned his spot in the rotation. We have some big four-game weeks coming up and he’ll have to match up with some of the best teams. Reed is definitely one of those.”

Kaleb Foster doubled home a run in the first, cutting the score to 2-1 and then Douglas’ bats went largely quiet until the seventh.

Weintz drew his third walk of the game, Dillon Lopez bunted him over and Cale Kynett tied the game with a double.

Almeida then reached on a dropped third strike to put runners on first and third and Jimmy King hit a sacrifice fly to bring the winning run home.

Douglas next plays Spanish Springs Friday in the tournament semifinal.