Carson's Jesse Lopez makes contact with the ball Saturday in a game against Bishop Manogue at Ron McNutt Field.
Carson High juniors Kahle Good and Landon Truesdale came up with the biggest hits of their brief high school careers, and the duo may have saved the Senators’ season in the process.
Good’s two-out single tied the game, and moments later Truesdale singled to right to snap a 4-all tie and give Carson a 5-4 win and a split of Saturday’s 4A doubleheader with Manogue at Ron McNutt Field.
Carson lost the opener 8-1 as Manogue’s Jonas Whitten pitched a complete-game two-hitter.
The second-game win moved Carson into a three-way tie for the eighth and final playoff spot. At 7-9, the Senators are tied with Reed and Douglas. Wooster is a game ahead at 8-8.
“Maybe (it saved the season),” CHS coach Bryan Manoukian said when asked the importance of the two hits. “Sweeps are brutal, and we were just coming off one (against Galena). Those two hits were probably the biggest in a must-win game. We now have a fighting chance. Maybe this will wake them up. I am happy for Kahle and I’m happy for Landon.
“Both Kahle and Landon are young guys that are close to where they need to be. Manogue was the better team today for 12 of the 14 innings today yet we still got a win. I’m proud of the kids for the grit they showed coming back in that second game. We have played everybody tough.”
Truesdale thinks the win over Manogue could start a late-season surge for the Senators, who finish with Damonte Ranch, Wooster and Douglas.
“I think so,” Truesdale said. “The second game against Galena we played a lot better. Hopefully we can get on a roll.”
“Our at-bats were better the second game,” said Bryce Moyle, who had a bunt single and scored the winning run in the seventh.
Manogue opened the second game with two quick runs against starter Jared Barnard.
Paul Vossen singled between third and short, and Michael Davis walked. After Oliver Shawa was plunked, C.J. Hires hit a two-run double.
Carson came right back with a run against Angelo Reviglio.
The game turned into a pitcher’s duel over the next four innings, as neither team scored.
The Miners scored twice in the sixth when Joseph Damonte singled and moved to second on Vossen’s bunt single. The runners moved up a base on Michael Davis’ sacrifice. Kyle Glanzmann came on in relief, and Ryaln Charles singled home Damonte to make it 3-1, Vossen scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-1. Glanzmann retired Shawa and Hires to end the inning.
Moyle walked to start the sixth and moved to second on Abel Carter’s single to center. Good moved the runners up a base with an infield roller and Truesdale made it 4-2 with a sacrifice fly. Colby Zemp was hit by a pitch and Barnard singled to right to make it 4-3, and knocked Reviglio out of the game. Reliever David Condon retired Jesse Lopez on an infield roller.
Glanzmann escaped a first and second situation in the top of the seventh, setting the stage for Carson’s big comeback.
Carter and Moyle each had two hits in the second game.
In the opener, Moyle and Whitten were locked in a scoreless battle through three innings. Moyle had allowed just an infield single and Whitten had a no-hitter.
A two-out double by Dalton Scolari scored one run and Calvin Bailey’s single scored another, as the Miners gained a 2-0 advantage in the top of the fourth.
Carson answered with a run when Carter walked, stole second and scored on Barnard’s single.
Moyle left one up to Davis to start the fifth, and the Manogue standout doubled off the fence. He scored on Josh Rolling’s infield single.
“He was stting on it (inside pitch),” Moyle said.
Moyle left after striking out the side in the sixth, and Manogue scored five runs, three earned, off relievers Cole McDannald and Colby Zemp to put the game away.
Carson managed just two baserunners over the last 3 1/3 innings.
