WINNEMUCCA - The Lowry High School varsity baseball team still has nine league games to play, but after losing two of three to Battle Mountain the Buckaroos' mindset is different now, with must-win situations the rest of the way.
The series started well for the Buckaroos (7-8 overall, 4-2 Ruby Mountain League) with a 9-3 win over the Longhorns on Friday, March 30. However, Battle Mountain bounced back on Saturday to sweep Lowry, winning game one 4-3 in eight innings and 11-1 in five innings in the nightcap.
"It was one of those weekends where it was frustrating and disappointing if you want to say it was one of those weekends," said LHS head coach Ron Espinola. "We put ourselves in a really bad spot for sure. We are in a spot where we basically have to win out and adding pressure that we really didn't need, when we should have put the pressure on ourselves this weekend. Every game has to be a must win because you can't rely on someone else sweeping a series and helping you out. Elko could drop a game to Battle Mountain, maybe Spring Creek will, but we can't rely on that, we have to win out."
In the opener, the Buckaroos scored two runs in the second and third innings to build a 4-0 advantage. Lowry used RBI singles from Jesse Studebaker and Calvin Connors for the first two runs in the second, after Tyler Brumm opened the frame with a triple.
Jace Billingsley and Bryan Noble began the third inning with a double and single, respectively. Billingsley eventually scored as he stole home, and Gus Duncan drove in Noble with a single.
Battle Mountain countered with single runs in the third and fourth innings to cut the deficit in half, but Lowry responded with three runs in the fifth to pull away. With one out, Noble drew a walk, which was followed by a double by Brumm and a triple by Duncan. Studebaker closed out the scoring with a single to score Duncan.
Noble picked up the win for the Buckaroos, going 5.1 innings and allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits with five strikeouts and three walks. Brumm threw the final 1.2 innings, giving up one run and one hit, with three strikeouts and two walks. Noble, Brumm, Duncan and Studebaker each had two hits.
Saturday's opening game of the doubleheader turned into a pitching dual between Billingsley and Battle Mountain's Ryan Salazar. Billingsley did not allow a hit through four innings, giving up just one walk in that time. Meanwhile, Salazar allowed just two hits through four innings, before Lowry struck for the first run in the fifth inning.
The Buckaroos strung together three hits, the last by Brandon Okuma to score Alex Nimmick, who had walked. That was the end of the rally as the next two batters popped out. The Longhorns countered in the bottom of the fifth with three runs, stringing together three hits and two walks.
Trailing 3-1 going into the top of the seventh, Lowry rallied to send the game into extra innings on the strength of four consecutive singles by Nimmick, Connors, Okuma and Billingsley. Okuma's base hit closed the gap to a run and a ground out by Noble drove in Connors to tie the game.
Battle Mountain left two runners on base in the bottom of the seventh inning but would not do the same in the eighth, as Keegan Quintana singled home Daniel Itza to win the game.
Billingsley started and went six innings for Lowry and received a no decision. The senior allowed three runs on three hits, with five strikeouts and five walks. Okuma and Brumm combined to pitch the final inning. Okuma led the Buckaroos with three hits, with Brumm and Connors adding two each.
"Noble and Billingsley went out there and had two great outings," Espinola said. "Bryan got the support and Jace did not. We had 12 hits in the game Jace pitched but scored just three runs. The hits were scattered throughout. Part of it is us being streaky hitters and another was Battle Mountain making the pitches they needed to. Battle Mountain made very few mistakes. In that respect, we were off balance the entire weekend."
Lowry had trouble getting its offense going in the nightcap, scattering just six hits through five innings. The Buckaroos scored their only run in the third inning on a RBI single by Noble that plated Okuma, who led off the frame with a double.
Battle Mountain scored twice in the bottom of the first and that turned out to be all the offense the Longhorns needed. Battle Mountain added three runs in the fourth inning and closed the game out with six runs in the fifth due to the 10-run rule.
"What I see is what we are doing in practice is not carrying over to games and that is on the coaches and kids," added the coach. "You cannot rest entirely on the kids, we (coaches) have to take a huge share of the blame on our shoulders. Obviously we are not preparing them well enough for every at bat they have and different type of pitcher they see. We have the players and athletes that can execute."
Jalen Formby started and took the loss, giving up five runs (three earned) on four hits with four walks and two strikeouts. Okuma, Lecumberry and Johnny Hernandez all saw time on the mound.
"It just typifies what we have done this year and we have been very up and down," Espinola said. "Game by game and weekend by weekend, you never know what you are going to get. Our defense was pretty solid and I think we may have had three errors total. There were other things here and there that happen in every game but nothing you can't play through, assuming you hit the ball. That is one thing we did not do. The last thing I thought we would struggle with was our batting."
It was an up and down weekend for Lowry as the Bucks traveled to Fernley on March 24 - 25 for three crossover games with the Lahontan League schools. Lowry was defeated 12-0 by Churchill County on March 24 but came back to beat Fernley 25-0 and Dayton 10-9 on March 25.
In the loss to Churchill County, Duncan picked up the only hit of the game in the fifth inning for the Buckaroos and was the only base runner. The Greenwave scored three times in the second inning but used a nine-run fourth inning to pull away. The game was a rematch of last year's state semifinal that Churchill County won 1-0.
The next day was the polar opposite as Billingsley hurled a no-hitter in the win over Fernley. Billingsley walked six and struck out five in the victory. The Buckaroos scored four times in the opening frame, which included a three-run home run by Brumm. Nimmick helped Lowry to a seven-run third inning with a bases-clearing triple.
Lowry added six runs in the fourth inning and five more in the fifth to score 20 or more runs for the fourth time this season. Nimmick and Noble each had three hits, while Billingsley, Brumm and Connors had two hits apiece. Nimmick picked up five RBIs, with Billingsley and Brumm each driving in four.
To close out the crossover series, Lowry overcame a 9-5 deficit in the top of the seventh with five runs to pick up the win over Dayton. Okuma's double with two outs in the seventh proved to be the difference, as he scored Duncan and Michal Arenas for the eventual winning runs.
Lowry continues its long road trip this weekend in Elko, beginning today at 4 p.m. for a single game. The two rivals play a doubleheader Saturday at 11 a.m.
"Right now at both levels we are struggling to put up runs," Espinola said. "It is up to us to figure out what we have to do and carry that from the practice field to the game field. It starts today (Monday) and goes to our game on Friday. We are going to ask a lot of the kids to make some changes and try different things and see if it works."
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