Douglas baseball rolls past Fallon

by Joey Crandall

Appeal News Service

MINDEN - The Douglas baseball team is quickly proving to be a team of offensive wizards.

The Tigers showed off a little bit of everything Tuesday afternoon in a 13-2 victory over Fallon at Tiger Field in Minden.

Anything from bookend three-run home runs to begin and end the game, to a plethora of doubles and sound base-running, the Tigers managed to make more than 10 trips across the plate for the fifth time this season.

It didn't take long for the Tigers to get down to business as Luke Rippee and Bryan Miller each singled before starting pitcher Brandon Huff hit a monster shot over the left field fence to open the flood gates.

Huff's shot broke a window in a car parked in the lot behind the fence where some Douglas students were tailgating.

"That was one of my friends' cars," Huff said with a laugh. "I feel bad, but he shouldn't have parked there."

The Tigers added five more runs in the inning, all coming with two outs.

"That was a good start to the game," Douglas head coach John Glover said. "They had that lefty (Fallon starter Andrew Kamps) and we haven't seen too many lefties yet this year, so it was good to start like that."

Douglas (7-0) collected a game's worth of offense in the opening frame, highlighted by Huff's homer, two doubles and eight hits.

Huff struck out four and allowed four hits in four innings of work on the mound to pick up the win.

"I've made a few adjustments, coach has been helping me with my mechanics and stuff," Huff said. "It seems like I've been settling down a little bit, just trying to throw the ball to my locations and hit my spots.

"Today the curve ball wasn't working too well, so I just had to spot the fastball."

Miller pitched the top of the fifth in relief, striking out two.

He turned around in the bottom of the inning and brought Spike Agosta and Luke Rippee home with a hard-hit three-run homer to right field to end the game by the 10-run mercy rule.

Through seven games, the Tigers have scored 86 runs on offense, an average of more than 12 per game.

Rippee went 3-for-3 at the plate with a double, three runs scored and two RBI to lead the Tigers at the plate.

Second baseman Chad Walling went 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI, third baseman Jimmy Pierce went 2-for-3 with a double and Stormy Herald drove in two runs for the Tiger offense.

J.P. Tye went 1-for-2 with an RBI to lead the Greenwave, and Mike Cummerow added an RBI to account for the remainder of Fallon's scoring.

Fallon's Kolby Ingram pitched 1 1/3 innings in relief, allowing two hits and striking out one.

Andrew Kamps took the loss, despite striking out two and walking only one.

Matt Timmons and Rick Cornu each scored runs for Fallon.

Douglas opens league play Thursday at North Valleys at 3:30 p.m.

"We feel pretty good heading into league play," Glover said. "(North Valleys coach) Rob Hastings does a great job with those guys and we know they'll be ready to go. We just have to compete for seven innings and play the game as hard as we can. That's out goal."