WINNEMUCCA - It is every baseball players dream to have a walk-off hit that wins the game for his team.
Lowry High School junior Aaron Nelson got a chance to live that dream against Sparks on Friday afternoon, as the Lowry High School baseball team won a Division I-A North playoff series on its home field for the first time since 2006 against Fernley.
The Buckaroos saw a 4-1 advantage disappear in the top of the sixth and seventh innings as the Railroaders tied the game and send the game into extra innings.
With two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, Lowry's Tytin Johnson kept the frame alive with a single to left field. With a count of two strikes and no balls, Nelson lined a base hit in between centerfield and right field as the Railroader outfield left a huge gap for the ball to drop. Johnson did not stop running on the play, scoring the winning run on the double and giving the Buckaroos the 5-4 victory.
"That was fun," said LHS head coach Ron Espinola. "That is playoff baseball. You want to put someone away early, but we have not had one of those games this year. We have had some come from behind wins, but it has been a couple of years since we have done something like that. If you look at the lineup those two hits come from probably the two unlikely guys. They are back-to-back lefties, but both have been working so hard on making adjustments in their swing, and that is the proof, right there, that working in the cage pays off."
The win moved Lowry onto the second round of the playoffs, set to begin Friday in Winnemucca.
Sparks strung together a pair of singles in the top of the first inning to grab a 1-0 lead. The advantage was short-lived as Lowry struck for two runs.
With one out, Calvin Connors singled and advanced to third base after a stolen base and a throwing error by the Sparks catcher. Jesse Studebaker followed with a single and the senior made his way over to third base after a pair of stolen bases. Studebaker came around to score on a Michal Arenas sacrifice fly and give the Buckaroos a 2-1 lead.
Arenas picked up his second RBI of the day on a single that scored Daniel Pollock in the bottom of the third inning. Lowry extended the margin to 4-1 in the fifth inning on a RBI-double by Studebaker that scored Connors.
Meanwhile, senior Tyler Brumm was dominant on the mound for the Buckaroos, allowing just three hits through the first five innings of action. He struck out four and walked one in that time frame.
Brumm was seemingly cruising in the sixth inning as the first two Sparks players flied out to Connors. However, the Railroaders' Dustin Alexander began a two-out, two-run rally with a single. Collin Ray and Brandon Coleman followed with walks to load the bases.
The innings appeared to come to an end as Tyler Crow hit a comebacker to Brumm on the mound. But on the throw to first base, Brumm threw the ball over the head of first baseman Tanner Lecumberry, allowing two runs to score and make the score 4-3 in favor of Lowry. Brumm was able to get the batter out.
"Stuff like that just happens," Espinola said. "We were able to fight through it and not get us down. We did not let the mistake get to us. It didn't snowball. As the game progressed we started to press at the plate, but we fought through it."
Lowry opened the bottom of the sixth with a triple by Johnson, but he was left on base as the next three Buckaroos were retired. Brumm came back out to start the seventh inning and walked the first batter. Nelson took over on the mound after the base on balls, but he proceeded to walk the first batter he saw.
After a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over to second and third base, Sparks' Jared Longland hit a fly ball to left field, which scored Austin Garrick to tie the game.
Nelson earned the victory in his two innings of work, as he allowed no runs on two hits. He struck out four, including the side in the eighth inning and walked two.
"Aaron gets us a save on Friday, a win today and the game-winning hit for us," added the coach. "He was unlucky at the plate in the first game (Thursday) and could not catch a break. They played him the same way on Friday and he burned them. It can't get much better for one kid in a weekend. I wish we could have got the win for Tyler, because he pitched a great game."
Brumm picked up the no-decision in his six innings on the mound. The senior gave up four runs (two earned) on three hits. He struck out four and walked four.
Connors led Lowry with three hits and two runs scored, while Studebaker, Arenas and Johnson each had two hits.
In the series opener on Friday
--See BASEBALL, Page 10--
(Cont. from Page Six)
night, Lowry erased a 1-0 deficit to win 9-5. Trailing by a run, the Buckaroos notched four runs in the bottom of the second inning and never trailed again.
"That was probably one of our best played games of the year," said the coach. "Jesse threw the ball great and stuck to the plan we had. I know he wanted to go all the way, but he was getting tired. He wanted the ball in the seventh inning and I like that. He is a senior possibly playing one of his last games on his home field. We want everybody to want the ball."
Arenas led off the frame with a walk and the Buckaroos followed with four consecutive hits by Johnson, Troy Hardy, Nelson and Brandon Okuma. Hardy's double knocked home Arenas and Nelson's base hit drove home a pair of Lowry players. Okuma's single finished out the damage, scoring Nelson.
Sparks was able to cut the margin to 4-3 in the top of the fifth inning on the strength of two singles and a Lowry error, but the Buckaroos were quick to answer in the bottom of the fifth.
Connors got the rally going as he led off by reaching on an error. Studebaker followed with a single and Brumm was intentionally walked to load the bases. The Railroaders may have been thinking of an earlier game in the season when Brumm hit a grand slam earlier in the year against them in a crossover matchup. Pollock made the Railroaders pay for pitching to him, as the senior belted a single to centerfield to plate a pair of runs and make the score 6-3. Arenas kept the inning going, singling home Pollock, and giving the Buckaroos a four-run cushion.
"That is why we moved Daniel up in the lineup," Espinola said. "He can flat out hit and has a great approach at the plate and is probably the smartest player on the team. That opened the game up for us."
Sparks scored a single run in the sixth inning, only to see Lowry tack on two runs in the seventh inning to seal the win. Studebaker pitched 6.1 innings to notch the win. The senior struck out three and walked five, while allowing five runs on nine hits. Nelson got the final two batters out to record the save.
Lowry will be back on its home field on Friday to face Churchill County at 11:30 a.m. in a first-round regional championship game. Elko and Fernley open the tournament at 9 a.m. on Friday. The winners of the two games play at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, while the losers play at 2 p.m. The championship game is set for 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.
"We have good momentum to build off and the best thing is we get to play at home," Espinola said. "These kids were not around since the last time we won at home in 2006. I am comfortable where we are with our team. We are going to play every game from here on out as a must win."
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