Carson 3rd baseman John Holton makes a throw to first base Saturday against Douglas at CHS.
Carson High stretched its winning streak to four straight and tuned up for the start of league play by knocking off South Tahoe and Douglas on the final day of the Mike Bearman Memorial Tournament Saturday at Ron McNutt Field.
In the opening game, the Senators scored six first-inning runs and rode the complete game performance by Trevor Edis to a 10-1 win, and then took advantage of six Douglas errors to beat the Tigers, 12-2, in a game stopped because of the 10-run rule.
Carson is 4-1 heading into Tuesday’s opener at Hug at 3:45 p.m.
Trevor Edis got the Senators off to a great start, pitching a six-hitter and striking out nine. The right-hander needed 82 pitches to tame the Vikings.
“It was mostly just fastballs down,” said Edis about his varsity debut. “The umpire gave me a couple of inside corner pitches, maybe because I was hitting my spots.”
“That was a tremendous effort,” CHS coach Bryan Manoukian said. “I thought he might be nervous, but he wasn’t. He threw a lot of strikes. He kept the ball down all day.”
And, Edis got all the support he would need in the bottom of the first, as the Senators carved up the offerings of Kendall Jackson for six runs and five hits.
Connor Pradere walked, then stole second and third and scored on Cody Azevedo’s single to right field.
Azevedo stole second and Kyle Krebs was plunked with a pitch. Terek Been singled to load the bases. After John Holton’s sacrific fly to right made it 2-0, Bryce Moyle followed with a run-scoring single. Jace Keema, making his first appearance of the season, drilled a two-run double to deep center to make it 5-0, and he scored moments later on a single by Edis.
Keema missed the first two days of the tournament because he was on a family trip and didn’t meet the required number of practices needed as per NIAA rules. He hit two straight doubles and a hard liner to left.
“Jace came out and swung the bat well,” Manoukian said. “That out to left was probably the hardest-hit ball he hit all day.”
Edis admitted he was excited about getting his first-ever varsity hit.
South Tahoe made it 6-1 on a double by Paul Hoefer and a single by Garret Hurley plus an error.
Doubles by Keema and Edis made it 7-1 in the third, and a run-scoring triple by Brandon Gagnon, an infield out by Kyle Krebs and a bases-loaded walk to Nico Salm closed out the scoring.
Edis, Krebs and Keema all contributed two hits each.
Against Douglas, Carson scored an unearned run in the first off Isaiah Schat, but Douglas tied it on a sacrifice fly by Trevor Tierney in the top of the second.
Two more DHS errors accounted for two more gift runs and a 3-1 lead for the Senators. In the third, Carson increased its lead to 5-1 on a bases-loaded walk to Pradere and a wild pitch. Schat departed after the walk to Pradere.
Douglas made it 5-2 in the fourth on two hit batsmen, an error and a single by Haydn Brown.
The Tigers threatened in the top of the fifth, but Blake Murray hit into an inning-ending double play.
Carson went on to score seven runs in the bottom of the fifth on just four hits, a hit batter, two more errors and a wild pitch. The Tigers managed just one out before the 10-run rule came into effect,
Pradere had a two-run triple, Azevedo had a run-scoring single, Moyle drove in a run with a fielder’s choice and Keema had a run-scoring hit. Keema had two hits in each game.
“We were fortunate enough to capitalize on early mistakes,” Manoukian said. “We ran the bases well and put the ball in play. We got Schat’s pitch count up. When he’s on, he’s as tough as anybody in the league.”
NOTES: The only negative for the Senators in their four-game winning streak is they have left 42 runners on base... Pradere went 1-for-5 in the two games, but he stole three bases and scored four times.
