Carson baseball drops 10-3 decision to Bishop Manogue

It was a case of role reversal on a cold night at Ron McNutt Field.

After taking advantage of a Manogue error on Saturday to the tune of four runs, Carson returned the favor in the series finale on Monday.

An error and failure to get an out on a bunt led to five unearned runs in the fifth, as Manogue evened the series with a 10-3 win over the Senators.

Carson dropped to 6-6 in league play entering the Bishop Gorman Desert Classic on Wednesday. The Senators will play four games in three days. Manogue improved to 9-1.

“We kind of did a flip flop from the other day,” said CHS assistant coach Joe Tierney, who helped run the team in the absence of coach Bryan Manoukian, who was serving a suspension after being ejected from Saturday’s game. “They scored runs off errors. Manogue came into the game with good energy. I thought we were ready to go.”

“I thought it was huge to get this game,” Manogue coach Charles Oppio said. “It was a tough night to play, and both teams kicked the ball around a little bit. We were able to capitalize on their mistakes.”

Carson made two errors, which led to five of Manogue’s first seven runs and a 7-3 lead. Starting pitcher Kyle Krebs struggled with location, hitting four batters and walking one in his 4.1-inning stint.

“Early on, he set the tone,” pitching coach Cody Farnworth said of Krebs. “Then he started to get behind in the count. We’re trying to throw inside. It’s something we do to get the batters off the plate, and unfortunately Kyle hit a few.”

“I didn’t throw enough first-pitch strikes,” Krebs said. “I didn’t give my defense a chance to get into a rhythm. John (Holton) executed really well on Saturday, and I didn’t do as well tonight. I think I only threw four or five first-pitch strikes all night and I got the ball up and they hit it.”

Despite Krebs’ location issues, Carson only trailed 2-1 after four innings.

Carson took a 1-0 lead in the first when the hot-hitting Krebs singled home Brandon Allen, who had doubled and advanced to third on a wild pitch. The hit extended Krebs’ streak to four straight games, and he has hit safely in 10 of the 11 games he has gotten an at-bat.

Manogue scored an earned run in the second on Conner Nelson’s sacrifice fly and went ahead in the fourth when Anthony Galati drove in Lucas Howard, who reached on an error by Josiah Pongasi.

The game took an ugly turn in the fifth.

Blaine Smith reached on an error by Conner Pradere and Alec West dropped down a bunt. Jace Keema appeared to have trouble transferring the ball, and West beat the throw to first. After Web Charles moved both runners up, Shon Plamondon made it 4-1 with a two-run single. Casey Trosclair walked, and that was the final batter Krebs faced.

Cody Azevedo retired Howard, but Galati hit a run-scoring double and Nelson followed with a two-run double to make it 7-1 before Azevedo got the final out of the inning.

The Senators fought back with two in the bottom of the inning to stay alive.

Keema hit a one-out single and was safe at second when Charles dropped the force-out throw on Azevedo’s ground ball. Pradere singled to load the bases, and after Pongasi struck out, Allen hit a two-run single to make it 7-3.

The momentum went away, however, when Manogue scored three off reliever Joe Nelson in the sixth.

“I thought we had a good approach at the plate,” Tierney said. “We hit a lot of balls hard to the right side. We battled up there.”