BATTLE MOUNTAIN - The Battle Mountain High School baseball team is returning to the state tournament after an absence of a couple of years.
The Longhorns (18-9-1 overall) had to fight their way through the loser's bracket of the NIAA Division III Regional Championships this past weekend at White Pine High School in Ely.
Battle Mountain lost 3-1 to North Tahoe in its opening game on Friday afternoon, sending them to the loser's bracket and an elimination game with Incline later on Friday.
"This weekend was quite an adventure," said BMHS head coach Worth Nelson. "We lost to a very tough North Tahoe team that we knew we would have our hands full with. They are very tough when their No. 1 pitcher is on the mound. We made a couple of errors that cost us a run or two but we did not hit the ball very well at all. I believe we struck out 14 times in that game. It is tough to beat anyone if you can't put the ball in play."
The Longhorns doubled up the Highlanders 12-6 to stay alive in the tournament. Yerington knocked off North Tahoe 7-4 in the winner's bracket game, setting up a rematch between Battle Mountain and North Tahoe.
Nelson said that the squad was able to get the bats going against Incline and took some pitches and had runners on base in every inning.
With their season on the line Saturday morning, the Longhorns were able to come back and beat the Lakers 11-6 to reach the championship game against Yerington.
"The second North Tahoe game was much better," added the coach. "We hit the ball well and had runners all over the bases. They went through three or four pitchers but it didn't seem to matter."
The Lions claimed the regional title, beating the Longhorns 20-10 in six innings, as the game was cut short due to the 10-run mercy rule.
Having qualified for the state tourney, and being a little short on pitching for the second game, Nelson said Battle Mountain decided to just go out and have some fun and see what it could do. The Longhorns had some kids in some different positions and had a couple of players pitching that haven't pitched this year.
The coach stated that the middle of the Longhorns' order hit the ball well all weekend. Daniel Itza and Dwight Douglas had a number of doubles and were pounding the gaps every time up, according to Nelson.
"We didn't make it to the 'if'game but still felt pretty good about the way the game went," Nelson said. "We scored a bunch of runs on their best pitcher, so we feel if we can just keep our arms fresh and somehow stay in the winner's bracket we have a chance at the state tourney. Now it is off to the heat of the south to see how we stack up. It should be fun."
Battle Mountain faces Needles, Calif., in the opening round of the NIAA Division III State Championships at The Meadows School in Las Vegas at 4 p.m. on Thursday. Yerington and Laughlin meet in the other semifinal at 1 p.m. on Thursday.
The two losers play at 10 a.m. on Friday, while the winners play at 1 p.m. A second elimination game will be played at 4 p.m. on Friday, with the championship set for 10 a.m. on Saturday. If needed, a second title game will be played.[[In-content Ad]]
