The Lowry High School baseball team went to North Valleys on Tuesday to play a couple of make up games that were snowed out earlier in the season.
The Buckaroos lost the first game 6-2, and saw a 3-1 lead fall to the side in a 4-3 loss in game two.
In game one, North Valleys scored first in the bottom of the second and Lowry tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the third. But the Panthers tacked on three runs in the bottom of the third inning, and another two in the fourth to put the game out of reach.
“We left a lot of guys on base in that first game,” said LHS baseball coach Andy Harmon. “We hit the ball OK, but we didn’t get the timely hits and we made too many errors. Some were mental mistakes that didn’t go into the books as an error, but they really cost us.”
In the opener Ridge Ricketts struck out four and spread out 11 hits. He didn’t allow any walks in his complete game performance. Brendan Domire and Klay Garner both went 2-for-3 for the Buckaroos, while Ricketts and Joshua Leveille were 2-for-4 on the day.
In game two, North Valleys scored first again in the third inning, but Lowry got three runs in the top of the fifth to take a 3-1 lead.
The Panthers got one back in the bottom of five, and two more runs in the bottom of the sixth gave them the 4-3 victory.
“In the second game we had it, "Harmon said. "We dictated the game and we were in the driver’s seat, but we just didn’t get it done. I think that was our sixth one run loss of the season. Both of our guys pitched great games. We let Ridge down with too many errors in the first game. In the second game Brendan pitched great, but he ran out of pitches at the end. Mike (Yarnell) did a great job coming in, but we had five walks in that second game.”
Anthony Hemp was 2-for-3 with an RBI and Kyle Sappington went 1-for-2 and scored a run.
“We are three games back right now, because North Valleys has the tiebreaker on us," Harmon said. "We have to win three of our last six and they have to lose out. We need to sweep Elko this weekend to have a chance going into our Truckee series next week. It is senior day on Saturday, so they want to put on a good show; they are hungry and want to win these three games.”
Lowry hosted Elko on Friday and results were not available at press time.
The two rivals play a doubleheader today (Saturday) beginning at 10 a.m.
Lowry closes out the regular season at Truckee on May 3-4.
“Truckee is a heck of a ballclub," Harmon said. "They are the defending state champs and they have only lost two games this year. We need to take care of business against Elko. We don’t want to have to go into Truckee needing to win three games.”
The Northern 3A Regional Championships will be held with the top six teams in Elko on May 9-11.
The NIAA State Tournament will be held May 16-18 at Virgin Valley High School in Mesquite.
The current Northern 3A standings are as follows: Truckee 19-2, Spring Creek 15-6, Churchill County 15-6, South Tahoe 15-6, Elko 14-7, North Valleys 11-10, Lowry 9-12, Fernley 6-15, Dayton 1-20, Sparks 0-21.
“I am proud of these kids because they have competed all year,” Harmon said. “They haven’t quit and they have fought in every single game.”
