The Battle Mountain High School baseball team got back on the winning track with two wins in three outings this past week against Silver Stage.
The Longhorns traveled to Silver Springs on Wednesday, March 27, and beat the Nighthawks 20-10. The series moved to Battle Mountain on Saturday and the two squads split a double-header. The Longhorns won game one 19-9 and the Nighthawks claimed thee series finale 11-1. Battle Mountain now sits at 4-4 in the Northern 2A.
Longhorns win
high-scoring opener
The opening game in Silver Springs looked more like a final in a football score. The Longhorns built an 11-3 lead after three innings of play, when the Nighthawks attempted to close the gap with two runs in the fourth inning and five more in the fifth.
However, Battle Mountain added four runs of its own in the fourth inning and closed the game out in the fifth inning with five runs.
The Longhorns pounded out 15 hits, with Jace Clark going 4-of-5 from the plate with five RBI and two runs scored. Chase Durick, Kade Quintana, Kelvin Diaz and Daegan McClary each had a pair of hits. Diaz added four RBI and three runs scored and McClary had three RBI. Quintana scored four runs for the Longhorns.
Battle Mountain also took advantage of 11 walks by Silver Stage pitching.
The Longhorns split up the pitching duties between Jordan Gonzalez, Marcos Jimenez and Diaz. Gonzalez threw 4.1 innings to earn the victory. He allowed seven runs (four earned) on five hits. He struck out six and walked six.
BMHS races past
Silver Stage
The series moved to Battle Mountain on Saturday and the opener featured another high-scoring contest.
The Longhorns opened up a 4-0 lead after two innings of play but that margin was cut to 4-3 after the Nighthawks countered with three runs in the top of the third inning.
Battle Mountain answered back with four runs in the third inning to push the advantage back to 8-3. The Nighthawks were not done, fighting back with four runs in the fourth inning to cut the deficit to 8-7.
The Longhorns finally put the game out of reach in the bottom of the fourth inning with seven runs and they closed out the game with four runs in the sixth inning to win by the 10-run rule.
The Battle Mountain bats were hot again with 18 hits, with Hayden Morris and Diaz each picking up three hits and driving in four runs. Jimenez, Durick, Clark and McClary had two hits apiece. Clark was 3-for-3 at the plate with three RBI and three runs scored.
Jimenez earned the run with his four innings of work. The freshman allowed eight runs (four earned) on three hits. He struck out three and walked three. Quintana threw the final two inning and gave up two runs (none earned) on one hit. He struck out four and walked none.
Nighthawks claim
series finale
After picking up 32 hits in the first two games, Battle Mountain was held to three in the series finale, as Silver Stage won by the mercy rule in five innings. Diaz had two of the hits and the lone RBI.
The Nighthawks led 7-2 after two innings of play and scored their final four runs in the fourth inning.
Battle Mountain travels to West Wendover for a single game on Friday at 3 p.m. and a double-header on Saturday at 10 a.m.
