WINNEMUCCA - After suffering three dreadful losses to Elko, in which it was outscored 50-15, the Lowry High School varsity baseball team went back to the basics last week.
Part of that work was a 10-1 win at Pershing County on Tuesday, April 30, followed by two more days of grinding practices. That extra effort paid off this past weekend as the Buckaroos won two of three games from Battle Mountain in Winnemucca.
Lowry (15-10 overall, 8-4 Division I-A North, 7-5 Ruby Mountain League) started the series on a high note on Friday afternoon, sending 17 batters to the plate and scoring 13 runs in the first inning enroute to a 15-5 victory. The Buckaroos led 5-3 in the opening game on Saturday, but watched the Longhorns score 10 runs in the top of the seventh inning to win 13-6. Lowry bounced back in the nightcap to defeat Battle Mountain 15-9.
"We did a lot of the basic things all week in practice," said LHS head coach Ron Espinola. "We worked on diving, we worked on sliding. When you looked at our practices, we wanted to stay focused and show more intensity. Whether that is a three-hour practice that matches a game and I think some of that came through. We came out ready to go on Friday."
Brandon Okuma started the 13-run rally on Friday with a lead-off triple and the floodgates opened from there. The Buckaroos forced Battle Mountain pitcher Jake Johnson to throw 67 pitches in the opening frame.
Calvin Connors followed with a walk and during the at bat Okuma scored on a wild pitch. Jesse Studebaker followed with a RBI double to score Connors, and with one out, Daniel Pollock picked up the fourth hit of the inning to plate Studebaker to make the score 3-0.
Tanner Lecumberry reached base on an error by the Battle Mountain third baseman and Michal Arenas and Troy Hardy added consecutive singles to increase the margin to 5-0. Following a walk to Donovan Brumm, Okuma notched his second hit of the inning to score two more runs to make the score 8-0.
After the second out of the inning was recorded, Studebaker collected his second double of the frame and Tyler Brumm and Pollock reached base on consecutive walks. The walk to Tyler Brumm scored the ninth run of the inning. Lecumberry and Arenas followed with two-RBI singles to put the Buckaroos up 13-0.
Battle Mountain jumped on the board in the top of the second inning, as David DeAndreis led off with a single and scored after Frank Peters reached base on an error. The Longhorns tacked on four runs in the top of the fifth behind consecutive singles from Worth Nelson, Damon Spring and Jesse Jones.
The rally looked to come to a close as the next two batters were retired, when Dwight Douglas kept the inning alive with a RBI single to score Nelson. DeAndreis and Malik Delrio added singles of their own to close the gap to 13-5.
After scoring the 13 runs to begin the game, the Lowry bats went silent until the bottom of the fifth inning. With two outs, Pollock singled and Colin Doyle reached base on a walk. Christian Dawson provided the walk-off single to right field, scoring Pollock and Thomas Schwartz, who was pinch running.
Aaron Nelson picked up the win for the Buckaroos, pitching three innings. He struck out two and walked one in earning the victory. He allowed one run on four hits. Colton Lacy threw the final two innings, giving up four runs on six hits.
Okuma, Studebaker, Pollock, Arenas and Hardy each had two hits for Lowry.
"It is hard to keep the intensity up after scoring 13 runs in the first inning - that is just going to happen," Espinola said. "You are just not as focused as you should be, because you don't need to be. But, we have to get past that because that showed up in our games on Saturday."
Battle Mountain grabbed an early 2-0 advantage in Saturday's opening game on the strength of a leadoff single by Keegan Quintana. Daniel Itza and DeAndreis walked to load the bases and the first run crossed the plate when Delrio reached base on a fielder's choice. The Longhorns added a second run when Itza scored on a balk by Buckaroo pitcher Tyler Brumm.
The lead was short-lived as Lowry countered with three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Okuma and Connors reached base on a walk and single, respectively. With Okuma at third base, a ground out by Studebaker cut the lead in half. Tyler Brumm and Pollock followed with a triple and a single, respectively, to give the Buckaroos a 3-2 lead.
The Longhorns tied the game in
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the bottom of the second inning as a leadoff walk to Nelson accounted for the run. Tyler Brumm committed his second balk in as many innings and Jesse Jones added to the mistake with a single to score Nelson.
"I think we were coasting through the game," added the coach. "We couldn't add the runs together when we needed to."
The game remained tied until the bottom of the sixth when Lowry scored a pair of runs. Back-to-back base hits by Lecumberry and Matt Wells led to the two-run advantage. Lowry had a chance to increase the lead, but a fly ball off the bat of Hardy was caught and the Longhorns' Quintana threw out Lowry's Donovan Brumm out at home plate for the final out of the inning.
After throwing 112 pitches through six innings, Tyler Brumm was lifted from the mound for the Buckaroos. The senior allowed four hits and three runs in his work on the day. He walked five and struck out five.
Building on the momentum from the final out of the sixth inning and a new pitcher on the mound, the Longhorns went off for 10 runs and eight hits as they sent 16 batters to the plate.
"I am not going to second guess myself on taking Tyler out," Espinola said. "For where he was at in his pitch count he was at my comfort level for this time of the year. Going beyond that I am not going to sacrifice next week or the rest of the year. If it's a league game, it might be a different story, but I still probably pull him. I have the faith in the guys that are coming into relieve. They just didn't get the job done in this game. It happens."
Battle Mountain took advantage of two dropped balls in the outfield and two misplayed balls in the infield in the frame.
The Buckaroos needed three pitchers to get out of the seventh, with Okuma suffering the loss. Connors led Lowry with four hits and Pollock had two.
Lowry showed no ill effects of the first game as it plated 11 runs in the first three innings of the nightcap to race out to an 11-3 lead. Studebaker had two hits and three RBIs in the first three innings and Okuma had a hit in each of the first three innings and had three RBIs of his own. Connors notched two hits and had two RBIs.
Okuma picked up three more RBIs in the fourth inning to give the Buckaroos a 15-5 lead. The junior had four hits and six RBIs in the game.
Lowry had a chance to end the game in the fifth inning, but a line drive by the Longhorns' Itza got over the head of the Buckaroos' centerfielder that led to three runs. Battle Mountain added a single run in the seventh but could not get any closer.
Jalen Formby picked up the win for the Buckaroos, as he allowed five runs on four hits. The senior struck out four and walked nine. Dusty Bryan threw the final three innings for Lowry. He gave up four runs on three hits.
The games had no postseason implications as the Buckaroos had already secured the No. 2 seed in the Division I-A North regional tournament. Lowry will host either Truckee or Sparks beginning Thursday at 4 p.m.
"It is nice for the seniors to have the opportunity to play to play on their home field for the next two weeks if we can get through the first round of the playoffs," Espinola said. "It really doesn't matter who we play in the playoffs. We have one job to do and that is win on Thursday. I am going to take the approach as it is the last game of the year. If that means we have to throw nine guys in one game to get the job done we will do that. We will figure out the next day."
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