Longhorns hand Mustangs first league loss
In what could be a preview of the opening-round game in the Division III North regional playoffs in a couple weeks, the Battle Mountain High School baseball team took on rival Pershing County last week.
The series began with a single game in Battle Mountain on Wednesday, April 27, with the Mustangs pulling away for a 17-4 victory.
The final two games moved to Lovelock on Saturday, with Battle Mountain handing Pershing County its first league loss of the year at 7-6. The Mustangs bounced back to win the finale 6-1.
Battle Mountain sits at 9-6 in the Division III North and has clinched the No. 3 seed in the regional tournament. Yerington leads the league at 15-0 and Pershing County is 14-1. The Lions and Mustangs play a three-game series this week.
PCHS gets past Longhorns
Cold and wet conditions greeted both teams in Battle Mountain, as Pershing County jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the second inning. The Longhorns fought back and trimmed the deficit to 5-4 in the bottom of the third, but that turned out to be all the offense on the day for the home team. Dominic Barter held Battle Mountain to just one hit in the final 4.2 innings.
Pershing County began to pull away in the fourth inning with four runs and went ahead 12-4 in the fifth inning. The Mustangs tacked o five more runs in the sixth inning to win by the 10-run mercy rule.
Longhorns take out Mustangs
All of the excitement in game one on Saturday came in the first three innings of action. Each squad scored three runs in the first inning and Battle Mountain went back in front 5-3 with a pair of runs in the second inning.
That advantage was short-lived as the Mustangs countered with three runs in the second inning to take a 6-5 lead. However, Pershing County did not plate another run.
Battle Mountain came back in the third inning with two runs to go in front 7-6 and held the same advantage to the end. Pershing County had won 13 straight league games before the loss.
PCHS grabs series finale
The Pershing County pitching duo of Nathan Wanner and Barter held Battle Mountain to just four hits in the series finale. The Mustangs plated a single run in the first inning and built the lead to 4-0 after the second inning. The Longhorns scored their lone run in the sixth inning.
Battle Mountain closes out the regular season this weekend at home against Incline. The series starts on Friday at 4 p.m. and concludes with a doubleheader on Saturday at 11 a.m.