WINNEMUCCA - As the Lowry High School baseball got set to host Elko this past weekend, it was billed as the series of the year in the Division I-A North.
It was anything but that as the Indians put up 50 runs on the scoreboard in a three-game sweep of the Buckaroos. Elko won the opener on Friday 18-1 and closed out the series on Saturday, beating Lowry 13-7 and 19-7. The Buckaroos had won 10 games in a row.
"The one word that really sticks in my mind is regress," said LHS head coach Ron Espinola. "We are doing things wrong that we thought we had fixed. We looked like we had not picked up a ball all winter and it was the first day of practice. We thought we had cleaned up the defense and obviously that wasn't the case. Offensively, I thought we were OK. We put runs on the board but go back out there and gave them right back pus some to Elko. Anybody is going to take advantage of that."
Lowry was playing just its second home game of the season and first since, Tuesday, March 19, against Pershing County.
Despite the losses Lowry is still assured of a home playoff series in the first week of May. The Buckaroos can be no worse the No. 2 seed for the postseason.
Elko sent eight batters to the plate in the first inning on Friday, taking advantage of a number of Lowry miscues. The Buckaroos' Aaron Nelson struck out Elko's Tommy Headley to start the game, but Headley reached base after a passed ball on the third strike. That opened the floodgates as Cody Kearns was hit by a pitch and Dalton Ridgway reached base on an error on a pop fly in the outfield.
Justin Pete picked up the only hit of the frame to score two runs and Zach Armstrong reached base on an error to score Pete and he later scored on a passed ball to make the score 5-0.
Elko added three runs in the second and two more in third inning to push the advantage to 10-0. Pete had a two-RBI double in the second and a single by Kearns in the third scored a pair of runs.
Lowry plated its only run of the day in the bottom of the third on a single by Jesse Studebaker that scored Calvin Connors, who led off the frame with a walk.
The Indians continued to add their lead with eight runs on six hits as they sent 12 batters to the plate. Nelson took the loss for Lowry as he pitched into the fourth inning. Colton Lacey and Jalen Formby finished out the game for the Buckaroos. Connors, Tyler Brumm and Studebaker had the only hits for Lowry.
The Buckaroos got off to a much better start in the opening game on Saturday morning, scoring single runs in the first and second innings to lead 2-0.
Connors kicked off the first inning by reaching on a walk and moved over to third base on a single by Brandon Okuma. Connors later scored on a wild pitch. Daniel Pollock provided the Buckaroos with their second run as he doubled home Troy Hardy, who walked with one out in the bottom of the second.
Elko tied the game in the top of the third inning as its eighth and ninth batters in the lineup scored. The Indians used a nine-run fourth inning to break the game open. In a frame that took an hour to play, Elko sent 15 batters to the plate. The Indians took advantage of two Lowry errors, seven walks by Buckaroo pitchers to go with five hits.
The Buckaroos scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings off of base hits by Pollock and Tanner Lecumberry. Lowry had a chance for a much bigger fifth inning but Elko's Kearns caught a line drive by Nelson with the bases loaded. If Kearns did not make the catch it would have scored three runs.
The Buckaroos were able to cut into the deficit with three runs in the bottom of the sixth, including two on a single by Lecumberry that scored Okuma and Studebaker.
Leading 11-7, Kearns did some more damage to the Buckaroos in the top of the sixth inning, as he
doubled home a pair of insurance
--See BASEBALL, Page Nine--
runs to put the Indians up by six runs.
Studebaker started for Lowry and took the loss as he pitched into the fourth inning. Okuma came in relief in the fourth but had control problems and Formby pitched the rest of the game for the Buckaroos.
Pollock led Lowry with three hits and Lecumberry added two.
"Jesse threw the ball well but got tired," said the coach. "Except for Jalen in the first game on Saturday, our relief pitching struggled plain and simple. Jalen threw very well and gave us a chance to get back into the game. If we get that performance from everybody, who knows what happens. Everything snowballed on us."
Runs were aplenty in the nightcap as Elko scored two runs or more in every inning. The Indians jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the first inning, only to see Lowry tie the game in the bottom of the frame. Connors led off the frame with a single, which was followed by back-to-back triples by Brumm and Studebaker.
The Indians bounced back with three runs in the top of the second to go back in front 5-2, when Lowry countered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second. Pollock reached base on a fielder's choice and scored on a single by Connors. Brumm's second hit in as many innings plated Connors to cut the margin to a run.
Elko doubled its total in the third inning with five runs on three hits and three Lowry errors to push the lead to 10-4. Lowry's offense continued to hit the ball as well, with Studebaker leading off the bottom of the third inning with a solo home run. Lecumberry who followed with a walk, scored on a sacrifice bunt by Troy Hardy to make the score 10-6.
The Indians began to pull away with two runs in the fourth inning and three each in the fifth and sixth innings.
Brumm started for the Buckaroos and pitched into the sixth inning and was tagged with the loss. Nelson and Lecumberry finished out the game on the mound for Lowry.
"You can't take anything away from Elko; they played extremely well," Espinola said. "They took advantage of everything we gave them, plus more. They hit it everywhere. They pitched well and their defense was top notch. You look at yesterday (Friday) and today (Saturday), the best team won. Unfortunately, for us we should be at the point where we should not be working on the little things."
Lowry travels to Lovelock today to face Pershing County at 4 p.m. The Buckaroos close out the regular season this weekend at home against Battle Mountain. The two schools play a single game on Friday at 4 p.m. and a doubleheader Saturday at 11 a.m.
"We have one day to fix what we need to do," Espinola said. "We have to go and play well in Lovelock and prove something to ourselves. We have to show that this past weekend was an aberration and that we are better than what we showed and we are. The kids know that and everyone else knows that. At the very least we learned a lot from this weekend and it needs to stick with us."[[In-content Ad]]
