WINNEMUCCA - Out of the many scenarios that could have played out at the Division I-A North Baseball Regional Championships last weekend in Winnemucca, the one that saw Lowry High School ousted after the first day was not at the top of the list for many fans.
The Buckaroos (17-12 overall) dropped their opening game of the tournament to Churchill County 10-1 on Friday afternoon, and later in the day they were knocked out of the championships by Truckee, who won 12-9.
"This was the last thing we were expecting," said LHS head coach Ron Espinola. "It was especially tough in the way we came out in the first game against Fallon. Jesse (Studebaker) struggled early (on the mound) and you would have never expected that. We could not get a thing going offensively. We got ourselves down early to Truckee and battled back, but it wasn't enough. We backed ourselves into a corner in both games and could not get out of it."
After Lowry retired Churchill County's Dalton Frank to start the game, the Greenwave had seven of its next eight batters reach base. Mo Coverston began the rally with a single and Dalton Johnson and Cody Long reached on an error and walk, respectively, to load the bases. Joe Pyle grounded out to Daniel Pollock at second base for the second out, which also scored the first run of the game.
Tyler Bagby kept the inning alive for the Greenwave with his two-RBI single and Churchill County scored its final run of the frame on a bases-loaded walk to Sage Orozco.
Churchill County added to its lead with a pair of runs in the top of the second inning. Coverston led off with a single and after two errors by Lowry, he scored on a sacrifice bunt by Pyle. Tristen Salazar made the score 6-0 with his RBI single that scored Long.
The margin extended to 8-0 in the top of the fifth inning on a two-RBI single by Frank that scored Bagby and Hunter Mori. The Buckaroos prevented the shutout with a single run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Tanner Lecumberry singled with one out and after a wild pitch he scored on a single by Brandon Okuma.
Churchill County added its final two runs in the seventh inning on a two-RBI triple by Orozco that scored Salazar and Mori.
Studebaker took the loss for Lowry as he pitched two-thirds of an inning and allowed four runs on two hits. Tyler Brumm collected the last out of the opening inning and pitched into the sixth before getting replaced by Dusty Bryan.
The Buckaroos were held to four hits - one each by Okuma, Michal Arenas, Aaron Nelson and Lecumberry.
"Tyler and Dusty came in and did a good job on the mound," Espinola said. "We just didn't help ourselves out at the plate. Their pitching was nothing spectacular. We knew Fallon would work us on the outer half and we did not make that adjustment. We knew what they were going to do. They have done it to us for a lot of years. They executed their game plan and we did not and that's what it comes down to."
Lowry found itself down 4-0 in the first inning for a second straight game, this time against Truckee. The Wolverines picked up just one hit in the opening frame, but took advantage of three Buckaroo errors, in sending nine batters to the plate.
"You make it tough on yourself when you have to play from behind," Espinola said. "Basically, what it came down to is that we got cold at the wrong time."
The Buckaroos got one of the runs back in the bottom of the first inning when Studebaker reached base on an error with two outs. Lowry made Truckee pay for the mistake, with Daniel Pollock singling Studebaker home.
Lowry closed the gap to 4-3 in the bottom of the second on the strength of a two-RBI triple by Calvin Connors. The base hit by the junior drove home Brumm and Okuma.
Truckee answered back with a pair of runs in the top of the third on RBI base hits by Teagan Pado and Aaron Pado to make the score 6-3. Lowry trimmed the deficit once again, scoring two runs in the bottom of the fourth on a two-RBI single by Arenas that plated Connors and Studebaker.
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That was as close as Lowry got, as Truckee countered with five runs in the top of the fifth inning to lead 11-5. Four different Wolverines had RBI base hits.
The Buckaroos did their best to get back into the contest, scoring four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Christian Dawson drove in Troy Hardy and Brumm with his single and Aaron Nelson and Okuma drove in the final two runs.
Truckee added an insurance run in the top of the seventh to increase the lead to 12-9 and closed out the bottom of the seventh after allowing Pollock to reach base on an error.
"The effort was there for us," added the coach. "We had some kids make some fantastic efforts on defense. We got some key at bats with Troy and Christian coming in to pinch hit. It was more of a team effort and we had our chances. Truckee likes to put pressure on you. They like to throw strikes and they execute well. It was just opposite of the first time we played them and beat them."
Nelson started for Lowry and pitched into the fifth inning before handing the ball over to Jalen Formby and Okuma. Nelson took the loss, allowing 10 runs on nine hits. He struck out two and walked five. Connors, Pollock, Brumm and Arenas led Lowry with two hits apiece.
"It's always disappointing when you lose," Espinola said. "With the seniors graduating, they have played a lot of ball and put a lot of time in over the past few years. There is some serious time put in between the kids, coaching staff and parents. You never want to see it end this way. Unfortunately, for Lowry High School every baseball season has ended this way. We got a great group of kids coming up and they are going to get a lot of time on the field this summer. We will start practicing for summer ball this week. Hopefully, we continue on with a quality program."[[In-content Ad]]
