When the sun rose on Friday morning, the baseball field at Lowry High School looked like a new lake had been formed in northern Nevada.
After hours of transforming the field, the Buckaroos were able to make their home debut this past weekend against Spring Creek.
Both teams came into the series tied at 2-1 in the Northern 3A, however Spring Creek left with a one-game lead over Lowry after winning two of three games on the weekend.
The Spartans won the opener 8-5 on Friday, only to see Lowry lose a big lead in Saturday’s opener and come back in the bottom of the seventh to win 13-12. Spring Creek claimed the series finale 15-3 and dropped Lowry to 3-3 in the Northern 3A and 4-7 overall.
Spring Creek holds off Lowry in opener
Spring Creek used a two-run home run from Thomas Ledford in the top of the first inning on Friday afternoon and did not trail in the contest.
The Buckaroos cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the first inning on a RBI-single by Josh Leveille that scored Brendan Domire, who led off the first with a single.
Spring Creek jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the second inning on just one hit. Three Lowry errors and two walks contributed to the big inning for the Spartans.
The Buckaroos got three of those runs back in the third inning and trimmed the Spartan margin to 6-4. Michael Yarnell led off with a single, which was followed by a walk to Domire. Anthony Hemp and Ridge Ricketts added a single and double, respectively, to close the gap to two runs. However, the inning ended on a double play.
Lowry added another run in the fifth inning to make the score 6-5 but the Buckaroos could not get any closer. Sporing Creek plated two runs in the sixth inning and held off a Buckaroo rally in the seventh.
Hemp and Yarnell paced Lowry with two hits apiece.
Ren Mattson started for Lowry on the mound and suffered the loss in three innings of work. The senior allowed six runs (two earned) on five hits. He walked four and struck out one. Jordan Parker and Yarnell each threw two innings of relief.
Lowry rallies after
losing early lead
Lowry raced out to a 7-0 advantage in game one Saturday but needed three runs in the final two innings to win in the bottom of the seventh.
The Buckaroos plated a pair of runs in the first inning after Domire and Hemp walked to star the frame. Aided by a Spring Creek error and a single by Ricketts, Lowry jumped ahead 2-0.
The Buckaroos added five runs in the second inning, which was started by a single by Tazmin Milton. Two errors, and a wild pitch allowed Kyle Sappington and Yarnell to reach base and score. After two outs were recorded, Ricketts and Leveille restarted the rally with singles.
Spring Creek used six hits to score four runs in the top of the third inning to cut the Lowry lead to 6-4. The Buckaroos bounced back with a single run in the bottom of the third inning on a RBI-single by Domire that scored Riley Sakurada.
Lowry extended the lead to 10-5 after scoring two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, as the Buckaroos used four consecutive singles from Ricketts, Leveille, Jake Marriott and Sakurada.
What seemed like a comfortable advantage, quickly turned into a tie game at 10, when Spring Creek scored five times in the sixth inning. The first five Spartan batters reached base, including three singles.
After leading a majority of the contest, Lowry went back in front in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Sakurada and Milton each reached base on singles and advanced to second and third base after a sacrifice bunt by Sappington. Yarnell reached base on a fielder’s choice that resulted in an error and allowed two runs to score to put the Buckaroos up 12-10.
Spring Creek was not done and countered with two runs in the seventh inning after two hits and two errors by Lowry and tied the game at 12-12.
Ricketts led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a single to left field and moved to second after the outfielder misplayed the ball. Ricketts moved over to third base after a base hit by Mattson and scored after Sakurada beat out a double play on a ball to second base for the walk-off win.
Ricketts had four of Lowry’s 15 hits and Domire, Leveille, Marriott, Sakurada and Milton each had two hits.
Milton started for Lowry and recorded a no-decision in five innings of work. He allowed nine runs (seven earned) on 11 hits. He struck out two and walked three. Parker threw 1.1 innings and Yarnell pitched the final .2 innings and earned the win.
Big inning leads to
Spring Creek win
In the series finale, Spring Creek jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, only to see Lowry tie the game at 3-3 after three innings of action. The Buckaroos used singles from Marriott, Sakurada and Sappington to score twice in the second inning. Hemp scored the tying run in the third inning after a lead-off single and an error with Leveille at the plate.
The game remained tied until the fifth inning when Spring Creek scored 12 runs to blow the game open.
Sakurada and Sappington each had two hits for the Buckaroos.
Marriott started for Lowry and suffered the loss. He allowed 10 runs (seven earned) on 12 hits. He struck out five and walked none.
Lowry returns to its home field this weekend for a three-game set with Sparks. The action begins Friday at 3 p.m. and resumes with a doubleheader on Saturday at 11 a.m.
