The Battle Mountain High School baseball team is headed to the Northern 2A Regional Championships on a high note after winning four of its last five games to end the regular season.
Battle Mountain swept three games from West Wendover to begin the week. The Longhorns were at home to beat he Wolverines 9-5 on Tuesday, May 2. The series moved to Wendover this past Friday and Battle Mountain won 7-3 and 4-0.
BMHS pulls away to beat West Wendover
West Wendover plated thew first two runs in the opening game of the series, but Battle Mountain scored the next seven, including four in the bottom of the first inning to secure the victory. The Longhorns led by as many as six runs at 9-3, when the Wolverines scored twice in the fifth inning.
Gabe Naveran and Kade Quintana each had two hits. The duo combined for five RBI and two runs scores. Larry Caudell had one hit and two RBI and Reese Artz, Quinton Defoor, Mason Fuller and Arturo Serrano also had one hit apiece.
Defoor earned the win on the mound in 5.1 innings of work. He allowed five runs (three earned) on seven hits. He struck out five and walked three. Fuller and Naveran combined for the final 1.2 innings.
Longhorns get past Wolverines
The series shifted to Wendover on Friday and Battle Mountain wasted little time in gaining a 6-1 advantage after three innings of play. The Wolverines cut the margin half to 6-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning but got no closer.
Artz, Fuller, Beau Moyes, Truxton Price, Quintana and Serrano each had one hit. Price added three RBI.
Fuller collected the win on the mound, going six innings. He allowed three runs (none earned) on just one hit. He walked six and struck out four.
Longhorns blank Wolverines in finale
The finale was a pitchers dual until the sixth inning when the Longhorns broke through for three runs.
Battle Mountain had four hits, one each from Artz, Fuller, Moyes and Serrano. Naveran earned the complete-game victory. He gave up just two hits. He walked three and struck out one.
Battle Mountain closed out the regular season at home on Saturday against Incline. The Highlanders won game one 6-4, while Battle Mountain won the night cap 11-4.
Incline took a 4-0 lead in the opener in the third inning and never trailed. After scoring a single run in the third inning, the Longhorns cut the deficit to 4-3 in the sixth inning, but the Highlanders responded with two runs in the seventh to secure the win.
Artz had two of the tree hits for Battle Mountain and Fuller had one. Defoor suffered the loss for Battle Mountain, as he gave up six runs on 10 hits. He struck out six and walked two.
Battle Mountain trailed 2-0 in the nightcap, but scored five runs apiece in the third and fourth innings to avoid a second straight loss.
Seven different players had a hit for the Longhorns. Moyes and Naveran split time on the mound with Naveran picking up the win.
The Northern 2A baseball postseason bracket was not finished as of Tuesday morning. Pershing County had to play North Tahoe in a make-up game on Tuesday. If the Mustangs won, they would be the No. 4 seed. A loss eliminates Pershing County and West Wendover would be the No. 4 seed.
The No. 4 seed plays Yerington at 10:30 a.m. on Friday morning. Battle Mountain and North Tahoe play each other at 1 p.m.
The first-round losers play at 3:30 p.m. Friday and the winners meet at 6 p.m.
The championship game is set for 12:30 on Saturday.
The top two teams advance to the NIAA State Championships at The Meadows School in Las Vegas from May 18-20.
