The road to the postseason got that much tougher for the Lowry High School baseball team after two losses to South Tahoe last weekend.
The Buckaroos lost the opening game of the series 12-1 on Friday, April 20. Lowry looked poised to win the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader but watched as South Tahoe scored five times in the bottom of the seventh inning to win 10-9. The Buckaroos salvaged the series finale 3-0 behind a complete-game effort from Ren Mattson.
Entering this weekend, Lowry was sixth in the Northern 3A at 8-10. That is the final playoff spot. Elko (14-4) and Churchill County (14-4) are first and second in the league.
Truckee (10-7), South Tahoe Tahoe (11-9) and Fernley (9-9) round out the top five. Dayton (7-10) and Spring Creek (9-12) are seventh and eighth, respectively, but still play Sparks. Three times apiece. Sparks is 0-17 in the Northern 3A.
“You take away Elko and Fallon and the rest of the league is a mess,” said LHS coach Andy Harmon. “We need to win at least four of our last six games if we want to get in the playoffs.”
Quick start propels
South Tahoe
South Tahoe jumped on the board quickly in the first game of the series and led 5-0 in the first inning. The Vikings scored the five runs on just three hits. The Vikings added four runs in the bottom of the second to build a 9-0 advantage. South Tahoe had just hits in the frame and took advantage of two walks, a hit by pitch, a passed ball and wild pitch.
South Tahoe extended the lead to 11-0 before Lowry scored in the top of the fourth inning. Josh Leveille led off with a triple and scored on a ground out by Jake Marriott.
Brendan Domire, Jordan Parker, Kyle Sappington, Leveille and Marriott each had one hit. Marriott started for the Buckaroos and suffered the loss in just an inning of work. Parker threw the final three innings.
Vikings rally to
beat Buckaroos
In Saturday’s first game, Lowry had leads of four and five runs but lost on a walk-off double in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Tazmin Milton, Domire, Parker and Sakurada all had singles in the first inning to build a 4-0 lead. South Tahoe go three of those runs back in the bottom of the third inning, two of those coming off a double. The Vikings added a single run in the fourth inning but the Buckaroos avoided any other damage by getting out of the frame on a 1-2-3 double play.
Lowry’s offense sparked once again in the top of the fifth inning, scoring five runs, including four runs with two outs. With two outs, Domire singled home Ridge Ricketts to give Lowry a 5-4 lead. Leveille reached on an error and Marriott followed with a single. Parker had the big blow of the frame, with a two-RBI triple. Parker scored on a single by Sakurada.
South Tahoe collected one run in the bottom of the fifth inning and finished off the comeback in the bottom of the seventh. The first three Viking batters reached base before the first out was recorded. The sac-fly out allowed the first run to score to cut the lead to 9-6. South Tahoe followed with two straight singles, before ending the game with the walk-off double.
Domire paced Lowry with three hits and Parker and Sakurada had two hits apiece. Parker had a team-high four RBI.
Milton started and received a no-decision in six innings of work. He allowed five runs on nine hits. He struck out four and waked three. Michael Yarnell suffered the loss, throwing in the seventh inning.
Mattson shuts out
South Tahoe
Lowry closed out the series with a dominant pitching performance from Mattson. He scattered four hits through seven innings. He threw just 80 pitches and struck out four, while not allowing a walk.
“That was our best pitching performance of the year,” Harmon said. “South Tahoe could not touch him.”
Lowry used a double by Leveille and a two-RBI single by Milton to lead 2-0 in the first inning. Mattson helped himself out in the second inning with a RBI-double to complete the scoring.
Lowry opened a three-game series in Fallon on Friday. The two squads play a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 11 a.m.
