The remainder of the season for the Battle Mountain High School baseball team will be decided this weekend in Incline.
The Longhorns and Highlanders will finish the regular season with a three-game series with a postseason berth at stake.
Battle Mountain dropped three games at North Tahoe last week to drop to 12-6 in the Northern 2A and Incline sits at 11-7. Yerington has clinched the regular season title at 16-2 and West Wendover is second at 13-6. North Tahoe is tied for third with Battle Mountain at 12-6
The Lakers claimed Friday’s single game 8-5 and swept a doubleheader on Saturday 15-4 and 17-7.
Lakers rally to
beat Longhorns
North Tahoe jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning of Friday’s game and held the advantage until the top of the fourth inning when Battle Mountain countered with four runs to go in front 4-2.
The lead was short-lived for the Longhorns, as the Lakers answered back with four runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth to lead 8-4. Battle Mountain rallied with a run in the top of the seventh inning but could not complete the comeback.
Quinton Defoor and Reese Artz each had two hits for the Longhorns. Aldo Castellanos, Kade Quintana, Mason Fuller. Gabe Naveran and Erik Martinez had one hit apiece.
Defoor started for Battle Mountain and suffered the loss in 5.2 innings of work. He allowed eight runs (four earned) on eight hits. He had six strikeouts and five walks.
North Tahoe pulls away from Battle Mountain
Battle Mountain jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning in the first game on Saturday but the offense went away until the seventh inning.
The Lakers countered with three runs in the bottom of the first inning to tie the game and added single runs in the second and third innings to go in front 5-3.
North Tahoe slowly pulled away with three runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth to lead 12-3.
Fuller was the only Longhorn with more than one hit. Castellanos, Quintana, Naveran, Defoor and Artz each had one hit.
Fuller started and was tagged with the loss, allowing 12 runs (four earned) on seven hits in four innings of work. He struck out five and walked three. Jordan Gonzalez threw the final three innings and gave up three runs on three hits. He struck out five and walked one.
North Tahoe
completes sweep
Battle Mountain took a 1-0 lead in the first inning in the series finale but it was short-lived as North Tahoe scored seven runs in the bottom of the first inning and never trailed again.
The Longhorns tacked on a single run in the second inning and three more in the third to cut the deficit to 7-5. That was as close as Battle Mountain got, as North Tahoe scored four runs in the third inning to lead 11-5. The Lakers scored five runs in the fifth inning to end the game on the 10-run mercy rule.
Artz paced Battle Mountain with two hits. Tom Baird, Fuller, Naveran and Defoor had one hit apiece.
The series with Incline begins on Thursday at 4 p.m. The two squads play a doubleheader on Friday, starting at 2 p.m.
