The 2021 season continues to play hardball with the Pershing County baseball team.
On Tuesday, April 27, Pershing County hosted Battle Mountain, losing 33-3.
The rivals met again on Tuesday, May 4, in Longhorn territory. Results were not available at press time.
This past Saturday, Pershing County hosted a doubleheader against Yerington.
The Lions came into the fray undefeated in the 2A and left the same way. Pershing lost 12-1 and 23-8.
In the loss to Battle Mountain, the Mustangs kept the score close for the first four innings.
However, defensive mistakes in the fifth and sixth allowed the Longhorns to pull ahead with 27 unanswered runs, including 21 in the sixth inning.
Still, the Mustang pitchers kept the walks down and the strikes flowing.
According to coach Will Barter, Blake Burrows, Connor Fecht, Wyatt Diaz and Blake Barter did a fine job on the mound.
Pershing County scored the first run of the opening game against Yerington when Burrows singled. However, the Lions quickly tied things up at one. From there, it was all Yerington.
The Mustangs tallied nine hits. Diaz, Fecht, Aaron Kienbaum and Jordan Gentry all had two hits to lead the team.
In the second game, the Lions jumped out to an early lead with four runs in the first inning.
The Mustangs found their bats in the third, putting four runs on the board behind singles from Burrows, Fecht and Barter.
However, they were unable to catch up.
The Mustangs totaled 12 hits in the game, continuing their steady improvement. Tim Fecht went three-for-four at the plate to lead the Mustangs in hits.
“The scores don’t reflect how well we played against probably the best 2A Northern team,” said asst Coach Jesse Canchola. “We had solid pitching backed by some solid defense. Errors were way down from previous games, and batting became contagious. We continue to get better and yearn for another win.”
Baseball ends with a string of home games, starting with Incline this Saturday at 10 a.m. and noon.
The Highlanders are having a challenging year too.
They forfeited to Battle Mountain at the top of the season and lost to Yerington on the road (14-4, 12-6).
On Friday, May 14, the Mustangs host West Wendover at 1 and 3 p.m.
As of press time, Wendover is undefeated (4-0). They confounded the Mustangs in a double-header at the season opener (16-5, 16-2).
Finally, Pershing County hosts Smith Valley for a non-league matchup on Saturday, May 15.
The Bulldogs lost to Yerington 6-5 at the season-opener but came back and bit them 4-2 last week.
From there, the Mustangs put down their bats. The last home game of the year will recognize the graduating seniors, Raul Rincon, Tim Fecht, Blake Barter, Jordan Gentry, Logan Oberman, Jacob Thompson and Ethan Rhodes.
