SPARKS — It was a mixed bag for the Carson High baseball team in its Northern 4A doubleheader Wednesday against Reed at Lee Mitchell Field.
The Senators’ tremendous offense continued to produce. Carson pounded out 15 hits in a 16-9 win in the opener, but six errors in the nightcap led to a 15-10 setback.
Carson, 3-4 in league play, returns to action Thursday at 6 p.m. against Hug at Ron McNutt Field. The Senators beat Hug, 19-1, in three innings on Tuesday.
“I’m really disappointed with our defense,” said Carson coach Bryan Manoukian. “We actually had eight errors (in the second game). We had mental errors, problems with our rotations and, twice, walks turned into doubles because we weren’t paying attention. I think our pitchers threw well enough (to win).
“Our hitting (27 hits combined) was outstanding. Our approaches have been good. We still struck out too many times.”
Carson got tremendous efforts from Abel Carter, Joe Tonino, Kahle Good and Jared Barnard, all of whom had at least two hits in each game.
Carter was the ringleader, going 7 for 9 with two homers and seven RBI. Tonino went 4-for-8 with seven RBI, six coming in the opening win. Barnard went 5 for 9 with a homer in each game and Good went 4-for-9.
Carson was held scoreless in just four of the 14 innings, and Reed was held without a run in seven of the innings.
The opener started out as the Ben Nelson Show. The right-hander, armed with a 10-0 lead entering the bottom of the fifth, was one strike away from a no-hitter and a mercy rule win when Tanner Clabaugh tripled home two runs to break up the no-no and shutout.
An error by Good leading off the fifth was key, as was a walk to No. 9 hitter Colton Domingues. Throw away either of those, and Nelson has a no-hitter.
Manoukian lifted Nelson at that point in favor of Quinn Overland, who allowed three more runs before retiring the side.
Nelson was helped out by Good on a shot up the middle and Carter made a nice defensive play on a bunt. Other than that, the Raiders did little at the plate.
“Ben did an outstanding job,” Manoukian said. “He was working on three days rest. I think he was great. He wanted to finish the inning.”
Tonino gave the Senators some more breathing room in the sixth. Colby Zemp walked, Kobe Morgan reached on an error and Carter was hit by a pitch. Tonino unloaded an opposite-field homer to right-centerfield to make it 14-5.
It was Tonino’s second big hit of the day. In the sixth, he doubled home two runs. Tonino has been confined to designated hitter duties after injuring his shoulder earlier in the year.
“I was more aggressive today,” Tonino said. “Coach moved me to No. 2, and I feel I’m getting my pitches to hit. Coach keeps talking about the right side. I saw one on the outside and took it that way.”
“With Kyle (Glanzmann) not completely healthy, we needed somebody in the 2 hole,” Manoukian said. “Joe stepped up. That was the biggest hit of the game.”
It was Carson’s third homer of the game. Carter had a two-run homer in the second, and Barnard hit a two-run homer in the fifth.
Reed added three in the sixth to make it 14-8, and Carson made it 16-8 in the top of the seventh on run-scoring hits by Carter and Morgan.
Carson was the home team in the second game, as the teams, with bad weather forecast later this week, elected to play a doubleheader instead of two single games.
Barnard’s second homer of the day tied the game at 2 in the first inning of the nightcap, but Reed struck for six runs in the top of the second to take an 8-2 lead. Carson made four errors in the inning, two by starting pitcher Max Fontaine and one each by Good and catcher Teigen Key.
A three-run triple by Landon Truesdale helped Carson cut the lead to 8-6 after two, but Reed scored four in the third for a 12-6 advantage. Carson made one more error, allowed two more walks and yielded three singles.
The teams traded three-run outbursts in the fifth to make it 15-9, and the Senators scored an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh.
Carter had three hits in the nightcap, finishing a triple short of a cycle. He was a triple short of the cycle in each game.
South Tahoe handles Dayton
The Vikings scored four times in the third inning and went onto an 8-4 win over Dayton on Tuesday afternoon in a Northern 3A game.
Dayton ace Trevor Burrows was touched up for five runs and six hits in four innings.
Jake Madson led the Dayton offense, going 2-for-4. Burrows, Justin Schmidt, Zach Waits, Isaac Von Schoff and Daniel Hastings all had one hit apiece.
Dayton returns to action at Fernley at 3 p.m. Friday.
