The opening weekend of play for the Lowry High School baseball team featured a mix bag of results against Churchill County.
A week after scrimmaging larger 4A schools, the Buckaroos took to the field officially for the first time in this shortened six-week season against Churchill County.
The Buckaroos hosted the Greenwave on Friday afternoon and suffered a 10-7 loss. Despite scoring seven runs, Lowry did not have a hit in the contest.
“It is a learning experience for us right now,” said LHS coach Benny Martinez. “We gave up way too many walk and errors. E gave them a lot of extra outs. We need to find a leader out there that needs to step up for us and be that voice on the field and in the dugout.”
Churchill County scored three runs in each of the first three innings to build a 9-1 advantage. The Greenwave used just two hits to take a 3-0 lead in the first inning but took advantage of two Lowry walks and a hit batter.
Lowry scored a single run in the bottom of the second inning, as Logan Fettic led off with a walk. He scored after three wind pitches by Churchill County.
The Greenwave scored once in the top of the fifth inning, when Lowry scored six times in the bottom of the frame.
Trenton Domire led off by getting hit by a pitch, while Zach Fernandez and Kaden Boyles followed with walks. Domire then scored off a sacrifice fly by Marcus Montes.
The rally continued as Anthony Hemp was hit by a pitch and the Buckaroos scored twice more as Tristen Schmittel reached on an error.
Garrett Hinshaw, Fettic and Braidyn Anderson reached on a walk, fielder’s choice and walk to account for the other three runs.
Fettic started on the mound for thew Buckaroos and took the loss in 1.1 innings of work.
Boyles and Horton came in for the final 5.2 innings and did not allow an earned run. Horton allowed one run and a hit in three innings of work.
The series moved to Fallon on Saturday for a doubleheader, where Churchill County won the opener 14-12.
The Buckaroos jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and Montes, Schmittel and Hinshaw led off the contest with walks Montes and Schmittel came around to score after Anderson reached base on an error. Horton collected Lowry’s first hot of the year, which drove in Hinshaw.
Churchill County bounced back with four runs in the bottom of the first inning without the aid of a hit. Four Lowry errors led to all four runs.
The Buckaroos tied the game in the second inning on an RBI-single by Anthony Hemp that scored Montes. However, the Greenwave added five runs in the bottom of the second inning and did not trail again.
Horton scored on a passes ball in the third inning to trim the deficit to 9-4 but Churchill County added three runs in the bottom of the third inning to increase the gap to 12-4.
Trailing 14-8 in the seventh inning, the Buckaroos used singles from Montes, Hemp and Boyles to close the gap to 14-12.
However, that was as close as the Buckaroos got with Horton getting called out on the bases after a Domire single.
Hemp had a team-high three hits and Domire added two, as Lowry had nine for the game. Montes, Hinshaw, Boyles and Horton each had one hit.
Hinshaw suffered the loss on the mound, in two innings of work. Anderson and Domire came into relieve him.
Lowry picked up its first win of the year in the series finale, pounding out 14 hits in the 16-8 win. The Buckaroos led 8-0 after two innings of play and never looked back.
Hinshaw provided a two-RBI single in the first inning that scored Montes and Hemp and Lowry scored five times in the second inning. Hemp and Hinshaw each had RBI singles in the frame.
Churchill County cut the gap to 9-5 after three innings, when Lowry tacked on two runs, including an RBI-double by Hemp. The Buckaroos put the game out of reach with four runs in the fifth inning, which included consecutive singles by Horton, Boyles and Fernandez.
Schmittel led the way with four hits, while Hinshaw added three. Fettic, Horton and Fernandez each had two hits.
Schmittel earned the win, allowing five runs (zero earned) on three hits in three innings of work. Montes and Horton combined for 3.3 innings of relief.
Lowry traveled to Elko on Wednesday and results were not available at press time. The Buckaroos host the Indians on Saturday starting at 11 a.m
