A light but persistent snow fell on the Lowry High School baseball field last Friday morning, a day that brought South Tahoe to town to start the boys 2019 season. The Vikings were not scared of a little weather and made the trip down the mountain, and it turns out the Buckaroos are battle born as well.
The game was moved from 2 p.m. to noon, and then back to 2 p.m. on Friday due to weather and field conditions. LHS coach Andy Harmon was on the field working with his team all morning.
“I give our kids credit, it was tough to get this field ready to play on today,” Harmon said. “They were all here at eight this morning to work on the field, and then they went out and played a game; I am proud of them.”
South Tahoe jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back on their way to an 11-5 victory over the Bucks.
“We started rough,” Harmon said. “We gave them way too many base runners in the early innings, twelve in the first four innings. They scored eight runs on one hit and a fielder’s choice; we are not going to win a lot of ballgames doing that. We will tighten some things up, as we have only been on our field once before this game, and it showed today.”
Lowry scored one in the bottom of the first, but gave up four more to the Vikings in the top of the second and failed to score in the bottom to bring it to 7-1. South Tahoe got one in the third, and Lowry responded in kind, but after a scoreless fourth inning, the Buckaroos tacked on three runs and held the Vikings to one making it 9-5 going into the sixth, an inning in which neither team crossed the plate.
Harmon said, “I was impressed with the way that we battled back; we didn’t quite get there, but if we can win two tomorrow we are still in good shape. That is our goal, to win two out of every series. We made it hard on ourselves today; it took us a while to settle in.”
South Tahoe scored twice in the final inning and Lowry did not score.
“Ridge (Ricketts) did a good job for us today, he always does,” Harmon said. “He put the bat on the ball and played well at short. Shawn Herrera did a great job coming up as a JV player and getting thrown right into the mix, I was really impressed with him. I feel that we are going to be our own biggest competition this year. We have seen everybody in this league and I believe that we can beat anyone. We have to show up to the park ready to play with the right mindset and do what I know these kids are capable of doing. We have had a tough couple of years, so we are trying to get into that winning mindset.”
On Saturday the weather was a little more cooperative and the Buckaroos won a 2-1 thriller in the opener of a double-header.
Harmon said, “Ridge (Ricketts) threw an absolute gem in that game. It was a pitchers duel and he did a heck of a job for us. Their first batter of the game scored and that was their only run, he held them the rest of the game.”
Lowry tied it up in the fourth, scored in the sixth to take the lead, and they held off the Vikings in the top of the seventh for the win.
The second game was a different story, as South Tahoe took the series 2-1 with an 11-7 victory.
The Vikings jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, tacked on another run in the second, and two in the third for a quick 7-0 advantage. The Bucks got on the board with three in the fifth, and both teams scored one in the sixth for an 8-4 tally going into the final inning. Both teams scored three in the seventh.
“We were right there at the end,” Harmon said. “We were down 7-0 and we went out and got three runs, but we gave them right back. We had the bases loaded with one out and didn’t get it done; we had our opportunities at the end. We hit the ball hard, but when we did we hit it right at someone. We out hit them all weekend and we played good defense, we just have to throw strikes. I am pleased; there is a lot to build on.”
Lowry travels to Spring Creek on Friday, March 15 for a 2 p.m. game and will start a double-header there at noon on Saturday, March 16.
“It should be a good series against Spring Creek,” Harmon concluded. “They are always a talented club that hits the ball well. If we are going to compete with them there are definitely some things that we will have to work on this week, so I am hoping that the weather holds and we are able to get outside to practice for a change. If we can get our pitchers lined up and start throwing strikes we will be in good shape.”
Lowry returns home on March 29-30 to take on Fernley.
