Maupin, Galena baseball rolls to victory

By THOMAS RANSON

transon@lahontanvalleynews.com

RENO - There's just something about the Greenwave that boils Eric Maupin's blood when he takes the hill for the Galena Grizzlies.

"I'm sure he wants to do well against his old man's school, so he has bragging rights at the house," Galena coach Gary McNamara said.

Maupin dazzled his father's alma mater by striking out six and hitting a game-ending home run as Galena dominated Fallon, 13-2, Thursday afternoon at Galena.

The Grizzlies strengthened their first-place hold in the High Desert League by improving to 10-0 while Fallon drops to 3-4. Both teams meet again in Fallon for a doubleheader on Saturday at 10 a.m.

"We stayed positive. We played a good team," Fallon coach Brad Barton said. "We had some guys on base, but we couldn't capitalize on our opportunities."

Maupin didn't want to disappoint his father, Doug, who played for the Greenwave during the early 1970s and was selected to the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association Hall of Fame last year. The younger Maupin no-hit the Greenwave last year in Fallon.

"He's a great pitcher, and he didn't even have his best stuff," Barton said. "If he had his 'A' game, it would have been a different story."

Galena took advantage of two infield errors in the second inning to go up, 2-0, against losing pitcher Daniel Doty, but Lyle Gardner walked in the following inning and later scored to cut the deficit to one run.

Galena's bats awoke and erupted for seven runs in the third and fourth innings. Maupin doubled in a run in the third, Basim Azzam singled in one run and Jake Hess blasted a two-run homer over the scoreboard in left field.

"We didn't have any quality at bats in the first 10 to 12 at bats," McNamara said. "We got a couple breaks early. Then, our bats kind of woke up."

Brett Wickizer's RBI double put a loose band aid on the bleeding in the fifth inning before Maupin connected on a two-run home run to left field to end the game on the 10-run mercy rule.