Usually during the summer, the Greater Nevada Badgers spend all its time away from home with road trips to Reno, Idaho and Oregon.
However, the Badgers ‘A’ team had a rare opportunity to stay home for a weekend, as they hosted Fernley and Dayton on Saturday. The team is made up of high school players from Lowry and Spring Creek high schools.
After rain wreaked havoc with the Badgers in their first week of play, there were no weather issues this past weekend.
Greater Nevada opened with Fernley on Saturday morning and built a 4-1 lead after five innings of play, but Fernley came back to claim a 6-5 win.
Fernley took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, when Greater Nevada came back for four runs in the bottom of the third inning. The rally was started with a one-double by Matt Shanks. Laine Keema followed with a walk and a single by Mitch Owsley tied the game at 1-1.
After a walk to Tony Ferreira, Kyle Schultz added a two-RBI double to put the Badgers up 3-1. Austin Marath closed out the scoring with a sacrifice fly that plated Schultz.
That proved to be all the scoring for the Badgers, who did not have a hit in the final four innings of play. Greater Nevada had just two batters reach base in the final four innings.
Fernley’s offense struggled for much of the contest, but used a five-run sixth inning to take the advantage and never gave it up. Fernley strung together five hits in the frame, all singles.
Greater Nevada used four pitchers in the game, with Kody Kirby starting and receiving a no-decision in two innings of work. He allowed one run on three hits and struck out three. Logan Gregory and Matt Mills also pitched two innings apiece, with Mills taking the loss.
In the 8-7 win against Dayton, Greater Nevada picked up as strong starting performance from Jake Barnes, who threw three shut out innings. He allowed just two hits, with one strike out. However, he earned a no-decision.
The Badgers truck first in the bottom of the second inning, as John Lydon led off with a single. After a sacrifice bunt by Barnes and a walk to Kirby, Logan Gregory singled to bring home the first run of the game. Kirby eventually came around to score as well, creating a 2-0 advantage.
Dayton tied the game in the top of the fourth inning, with a pair of runs, but Greater Nevada answered back in the bottom of the fourth with a single run when Gregory doubled home Schultz.
The back-and-forth battle continued as Dayton plated two runs in the top of the fifth inning to go up 4-3. But, that did not last long, as Greater Nevada countered with five runs in the bottom of the fifth and never game the lead back. With one out, Shanks and Matt Ferreira doubled, with a walk to Nico Espinola in between. The final blow of the inning, was a triple by Marath.
Dayton attempted to make it look interesting, scoring two runs in the sixth inning and one more in the seventh.
After allowing the first four Dayton batters to reach base in the seventh inning, Mills retired the last three, including a strike out and a fly ball to right field to end the game. Mills picked up the save, as Owsley earned the win, after entering in the fifth inning.
Greater Nevada had eight hits by eight different players.
The Badgers are off until Monday, June 15, when they travel to Truckee for a 3 p.m. first pitch. The two teams will play a doubleheader on Tuesday, June 16, at 11a.m.
