WINNEMUCCA - With the high school season just a week removed, it was no rest for the weary as the Greater Nevada Badgers began their summer season last weekend at the Reno Knights Tournament.
The Badgers, made up of baseball players from Lowry and Spring Creek high schools, went 2-3 over the four days of play.
Greater Nevada opened with IBAC out of Sacramento, Calif., on Friday, May 25, and lost 17-1. Greater Nevada lost 17-2 to the Reno Knights in the first game on Saturday but bounced back later in the day to beat Douglas 7-6. The Badgers carried that momentum into Sunday and collected a 7-5 win over Reed. Greater Nevada lost its tournament finale 12-10 to the Reno A's (Manogue) on Monday.
"We beat IBAC last year but they are a better team than they were a year ago and always field quality teams," said coach Ron Espinola. "After the first two games we played pretty good. I felt our pitching was good throughout the weekend, but we made too many errors on defense. When you do that against good teams they will make you pay for those mistakes."
IBAC scored single runs in each of the first four innings to take a 4-1 advantage. Greater Nevada scored its only run in the second when Tyler Brumm led off by reaching on an error, eventually scoring on a ground ball out to the shortstop by Gus Duncan.
IBAC added three runs in the fifth and broke the game open with a 10-spot in the sixth.
Aaron Nelson started for Greater Nevada and took the loss, as he threw four innings. Tanner Lecumberry, Brumm and Christian Dawson combined to throw the final two innings.
"He pitched very good and it was nice to see," Espinola said. "We did not want to run him out any more because we thought we would use him again and we did. He has thrown a lot of pitches during the year. Our defense just wasn't there in the first two games."
Greater Nevada grabbed a 1-0 lead over Reno (Knights) with a single run in the top of the first inning. With two outs Bryan Noble walked, followed by a single by Duncan. The rally continued with a single to right field by Michal Arenas.
Reno tied the game in the bottom of the first and then added four more runs in the second to pull out to a 5-1 lead.
The Badgers cut into the deficit in the top of the third, as Arenas drove in his second run of the game with a single to center, scoring Duncan, who singled with two outs to keep the inning going. However, just like in its opening game, Reno used a big inning to put the game out of reach, scoring 12 runs in the fourth inning.
"We were playing good once again against a pretty good team and it just went bad in the fourth inning," said the coach. "They had one kid that fisted the ball over third base and that would have gotten us out of it. From that point forward it was bad. Ten of the 12 runs they scored were unearned. You can't make mistakes. Reno is so fundamentally sound at the plate and if you can get them off balance you are doing a great job."
Levi Bliss took the loss after working 3.2 innings, with Brandon Okuma finishing out the game. Duncan and Arenas each had two hits.
Greater Nevada bounced back on Saturday afternoon against Douglas and took a 3-0 lead after two innings. Noble had a two-RBI double in the first inning to score Lane Newman and Duncan. The Badgers increased the advantage to 3-0 in the second as Donovan Brumm led off with a double and eventually scored.
Douglas cut the deficit to a single run by scoring twice in the bottom of the third but would not score again until a rally in the seventh.
Greater Nevada climbed back on the scoreboard in the fifth on a RBI single by Donovan Brumm to score Bliss. The Badgers tacked on another run in the sixth on a single by Bliss that plated Trevor Achenbach. Greater Nevada added two much-needed insurance runs as Achenbach singled home a pair of runners for a 7-6 lead.
The Tigers rallied in the bottom of the seventh, as the first four runners reached base and scored to make it a one-run contest. Douglas put one more runner on base but Tyler Brumm struck out two of the final three batters to get the win.
"It was a good way to bounce back," Espinola said. "We came back and played well in the final three games."
Achenbach led the team with four hits, while Donovan Brumm, Newman and Duncan added two apiece.
Greater Nevada continued its winning ways on Sunday against Reed on the strength of a five-run second inning. Arenas continued his strong weekend, leading off the frame with a single and scoring on a single by Achenbach. Cedric Zumwalt, Newman and Tyler Brumm followed with run-scoring hits to make the score 5-0. Reed scored single runs in the second and third innings and two more in the fourth to trim the gap to 5-4.
The game remained at 5-4 until the top of the sixth, when the Badgers used a single by Achenbach and a double by Zumwalt to go back in front by two. Lecumberry added a RBI single in the top of the seventh for an extra insurance run.
Reed rallied for a run in the bottom of the seventh but Newman, who came on in relief of Noble with two outs to get the save, was able to get the final out after walking the first batter he saw. Noble picked up the win, going 6.2 innings. Achenbach had a team-high four hits, with Tyler Brumm and Zumwalt adding two each.
"Bryan wasn't too happy when I came out but he had thrown a lot of pitches (124)," added the coach. "It took him a while to give me the ball. But he is a competitor and did not want to come out. He got himself in trouble but got himself right back out of it. I think that's two weeks with one bullpen session in that time."
The finale for the Badgers was a wild game with the Reno A's (Manogue), which was won by the A's in the seventh on a two-run home run.
Greater Nevada jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the second, but it could have been much different as the inning ended on a questionable call by an umpire. The Badgers used doubles from Tyler Brumm and Dawson, with a walk in between by Duncan, to go up 3-0. The rally continued with singles by Okuma and Achenbach and a triple by Zumwalt. On Zumwalt's triple, Okuma scored from second and Achenbach looked to have plated a fifth run. However after a pitching change, the A's appealed to third base, saying that Achenbach missed the base as he went home and on the appeal he was called out.
"That call completely changed the momentum of the game," Espinola said. "We had one of our best hitters coming to the plate. It was a huge play and if you look at it's a tie later in the game. Who knows what the score is really going to be, if that play is not reversed. That took a run off the board. You never know what will happen but it makes an impact when you take a run off the board."
Trailing 10-5 in the bottom of the sixth, Grater Nevada rallied for five runs to tie the game with the aid of four walks and a triple by Zumwalt and a double by Newman.
Reno countered in the top of the seventh on a two-run home run by Kyle Lewis and the Badgers were retired in order in the bottom of the seventh.
Greater Nevada is off this weekend and returns to the field on June 7 in Twin Falls, Idaho, for the three-day Donnelley's Wood Bat Tournament. The Badgers are scheduled to play Blackfoot, Canyon Ridge and Kimberly, with another opponent to be announced.
"We have a pretty good future ahead of us," Espinola said. "We are not going to have to wait too long for the payoff during the high school season. Overall it was a fun weekend. The Spring Creek kids are usually pretty young and we are young too. All of the kids between both teams get along well. It was fun to see the parents talking to each other. What was nice to see was the 4A coaches complimenting us on how we play the game."
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