The Lowry High School baseball squad welcomed Churchill County (Fallon) to Winnemucca this past weekend and delivered a thrilling 6-5 victory over the Greenwave on Friday in extra innings.
The Buckaroos were sitting at 5-8 in league play coming into the weekend and they are fighting with North Valleys for the final playoff spot in the 3A North Division.
Lowry took a 3-1 lead in the first inning against the Greenwave, but they let Fallon back into the game with two runs in the top of the fifth to make it a 3-3 game.
The Bucks added two in the sixth, but Churchill County answered with two of their own in the top of the seventh to tie it up at 5-5.
Lowry’s Ridge Ricketts got the game-winning RBI in the eighth inning when he knocked in Kyle Sappington with a double down the line.
“Friday’s game was great," said LHS coach Andy Harmon. "Ridge pitched well again. He is our guy and we have been able to count on him all year. That was a huge win for us. We knew that we needed to take one from Fallon, and getting the Friday game was awesome. The kids played well, and we hit the ball well. This team fights, they are competing from the first pitch to the last pitch, and that is what we need. Ridge went with an outside pitch and hit it deep into the corner to score Sapp (Kyle Sappington) from second — game over.”
On Saturday in the first game of a doubleheader, the Buckaroos weren’t as sharp.
Lowry went down to the Greenwave 14-4 in the opener, and they struggled to a 3-1 loss in the series finale.
“Today was a tough one. We were missing some guys and that hurt us for sure because we had to play a couple of guys out of position, but everybody stepped up and played well,” Harmon said. “In the first game on Saturday we were right there with the bases loaded and no outs. Sapp hit a ball hard right to their pitcher for a double play, and we didn’t get anything out of that inning. All of the momentum went to their side, and it snowballed from there.”
Lowry is now 6-10 in league play, and North Valleys is 6-9 with an upcoming match-up on the horizon.
“The story of the day for us today was that we left too many guys on base in both games," Harmon said. "We had our opportunities and we didn’t get the timely hits that we needed.
Lowry will travel to Sparks for a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 20, and on Tuesday.
The two teams will not play on Friday and Lowry will be awarded a forfeit victory over Sparks.
Lowry will travel to Reno on Tuesday, April 23, when they go to North Valleys for a make-up doubleheader that starts at 1 p.m.
Elko comes to Winnemucca on Friday, April 26 for a 2 p.m. game, and the series continues on Saturday, April 27 with a 10 a.m. doubleheader.
