The way the Northern 3A baseball season is playing out, every game on the schedule is going to be important. The top three teams are starting to pull away from the rest of the pack but teams fourth through eighth are in a battle that is going to last the rest of the regular season.
Lowry High School had a chance to improve its playoff positioning and looked good on Friday afternoon with a 10-0 win over Dayton. The Buckaroos could not take that momentum into Saturday afternoon and dropped a doubleheader 7-3 and 16-4 to the Dust Devils. Lowry dropped to fifth place in the Northern 3A at 7-8. The top six teams qualify for the regional championships.
Elko (11-1) and Churchill County (11-2) are the top two teams in the league and are in line for the two first-round byes. Truckee (8-4) sits in third place.
Lowry rolls in opener
Lowry’s Jake Marriott dominated Dayton in the opener, allowing just two hits in a complete-game effort. He struck out eight Dust Devil batters. Dayton batters reach third base just twice.
The Buckaroos used back-to-back doubles by Josh Leveille and Marriott in the first inning to score three runs. Marriott’s double scored Leveille and Tazmin Milton, who singled in the frame.
Ridge Ricketts, Leveille and Ren Mattson had doubles in a five-run second inning to give the Buckaroos an 8-0 advantage. Anthony Hemp added a triple in the third inning and scored on an error to help the Buckaroos to a 10-0 lead.
Leveille and Marriott each had two hits and the duo combined for five of the Buckaroos’ nine RBI. Hemp, Mattson, Milton and Ricketts had one hit apiece.
“We knew coming in this was a game we had to win,” said LHS coach Andy Harmon. “We figured Dayton was going to throw their top guys on Saturday. We hit the ball well and got a great outing from Jake.”
Bucks drop
Saturday opener
Lowry had its opportunities against Dayton’s Trevor Burrows but could not get the timely hit against one of the best pitchers in the league.
The Buckaroos had just four hits through four innings, as Dayton led 3-0 on the strength of a two-run home run by Tyler Stolfich in the second inning.
Dayton broke the contest open with four runs in the fifth inning to go in front 7-0. Lowry finally broke through in the bottom of the fifth inning with a pair of runs. Riley Sakurada led off the frame by getting hit by a pitch, which was followed by a single by Marriott. A ground ball out by Yarnell allowed Sakurada to score and Lowry restarted the rally when Anthony Hemp reached base on an error. The error allowed Marriott to score.
Milton went the distance on the mound for the Buckaroos and suffered the loss. He allowed seven runs on 10 hits. He walked five and struck out four.
Marriott and Sappington had two hits apiece for Lowry.
“It’s not like we played bad,” Harmon said. “We knew Burrows was going to be tough. We were hitting the ball late but could not get the big hit we needed.”
Lowry loses early lead, falls to Dayton
Lowry looked poised to take two of three games in the series after jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the series finale. The Buckaroos plated three runs in the first inning on the strength of a RBI-single by Marriott and two more scored on Dust Devil errors.
Mattson allowed three hits and two runs through four innings and threw just 71 pitches. However, he was replaced in the fifth inning and Dayton scored 11 times in the fifth inning. The first 11 Dust Devils’ batters reached base and scored as the Buckaroos went through four pitchers in the frame.
“It was one of those things where our bullpen did not get the job done,” Harmon said. “Ren threw a great game and you just have to say sorry to him for that finish. We are a young team and this is going to happen every now and then.”
Marriott had two of Lowry’s four hits and Dominick Kelley and Brendan Domire each had one.
Lowry begins a six-game road trip this weekend in South Tahoe. A single game at 3 p.m. on Friday starts the series. The two squads play a doubleheader on Saturday at 11 a.m.
South Tahoe is fourth in the Northern 3A, a half a game ahead of Lowry.
“This is a huge series for us,” Harmon said. “We have to put these last two games behind us and get ready for South Tahoe. We need to go up there and win at least two games to help us in the playoffs.”
