Carson’s season ends in loss against Manogue

All good things end eventually.

The Carson Senators’ Cinderella season ended with a disappointing 10-3 loss to Bishop Manogue Thursday afternoon in a loser’s bracket game of the Northern Division I regional baseball tournament at Peccole Park.

Carson ended the season with a 23-11 record, the best in coach Bryan Manoukian’s four-year tenure. The season ended far too early as far as the Senators were concerned. After finishing second in the regular season, the Senators had the state tournament in their view finder.

It was an emotional team meeting following the loss, and when players and coaches emerged approximately 25 minutes later, there wasn’t a dry eye to be found. Tears, hugs and handshakes were exchanged all around.

“It was definitely the most fun I’ve had playing baseball, and I couldn’t ask to play with a bunch of better guys,” said senior Connor Pradere. “I’m a little upset that it ended the way it did. I thought we would do better.”

“We played as hard as we could every single game,” senior centerfielder Cody Azevedo said. “Some things didn’t go our way. We went out and lost that first game. If we’d won that game we would have done a lot better I think.”

Manoukian echoed the very same thought.

“This one hurts,” the CHS coach admitted. “It goes back to the McQueen game. It’s hard to lose that first game and get to where you want to go. The way the tournament is set up, it puts a strain on your pitching staff.

“I’m proud of these kids. After two quick outs in the seventh we loaded the bases and had a chance to make it interesting. The kids competed. We hit the ball hard today. We had a lot of hard-hit balls that found their gloves.”

It was a game that saw the Senators fail to take advantage of a couple of early scoring chances, and Manogue’s offense scored nine runs in its final four at-bats.

Carson put runners on first and second with two outs in the first, and Manogue starter Callaway Miller dropped a called third strike on Jace Keema to end the inning.

In the second, Carson got a leadoff triple from Abel Carter and a sacrifice fly from John Holton. but Miller retired the next two hitters to keep the damage minimal.

Tied at 1 entering the bottom of the third, the Senators had a chance for a big inning, but were unable to go ahead.

Pradere and Azevedo walked to start the inning, and Billy Swope was brought in for Miller. With the dangerous Kyle Krebs up, Pradere tried to steal third, but was thrown out by Dalton Scolari. Azevedo moved up to second on the play, but was stranded when Krebs struck out and Terek Been grounded to third.

Pradere, who had a school-record 43 steals this year, has a green light at all times.

“I should have stopped,” he said. “I wish I could have stopped. I didn’t get a good jump. I think it was definitely a big turning point (at the time).”

“He didn’t get a very good jump,” Manoukian said. “He probably shouldn’t have gone (because of the bad jump). He was just trying to make a play. We have been one hit away from breaking games open early.”

Instead, the Senators have depended on late rallies for a lot of their wins, and except for a two-run sixth inning, they couldn’t push across any more runs.

The Miners broke the 1-all tie with two in the fourth off senior Joe Nelson, who was making his first start of the season after undergoing knee surgery in the middle of December.

Nelson plunked Shane Andrews and then balked him to second. After retiring Jordan Hunt, Luke Smith ripped a triple to right-centerfield to make it 2-1. Michael Davis followed with a run-scoring double to score Smith. Pradere saved Carson from further damage when he robbed Scolari of a hit with a diving catch.

Many expected to see Trevor Edis on the mound, but the Miners beat Edis earlier in the season, and they hadn’t seen Nelson, who was making just his fourth appearance of the season. Nelson had worked really hard to get back into playing shape. That and his recent relief efforts earned him the start.

Nelson departed after walking Jordan Dicus to start the fifth. Jared Barnard. who threw 56 pitches on Wednesday, came on. He retired the first two hitters he faced, but hit Andrews and gave up a run-scoring double to Hunt to make it 4-1.

Carson again had a runner in scoring position after Pradere singled and stole second in the fifth. Swope retired Azevedo and Krebs on fly balls.

Barnard ran into problems in the sixth, surrendering a two-run triple to Anthony Galati, who drove in four runs on the day, to make it 6-1.

The Senators stormed back with two in the sixth on Bryce Moyle’s two-run single off Hunt that scored Been and Carter, who had singled and doubled, respectively. After Jesse Lopez singled, Pradere hit a line drive Smith snagged for the final out, saving at least one run.

Holton, who threw 45 pitches in the win on Wednesday, gave up four in the seventh before giving way to Cole McDannald.