Bighorns lack of clutch hitting is costly in 2-1 loss in 11

One thing was missing in the Nevada Bighorns' arsenal Wednesday night - clutch hitting.

The Bighorns had plenty of opportunities to score against Southern Oregon, but time and again came up empty in a 2-1, 11-inning loss that wiped out nice pitching performances by Eric Maupin and Blake Nahlem at Ron McNutt Field.

Nevada dropped to 4-9 in West Coast League Tri-State play, while Southern Oregon improved to 6-4. The teams continue their six-game series with a 3 p.m. doubleheader today at Western Nevada College.

The Bighorns stranded seven runners and were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

"We can't get a hit when we need to," said Bighorns manager Dennis Young. "We can't get the clutch hit. It's been that way since we played at Lodi (Calif.).

"That's baseball. Hopefully it will end. We're playing good baseball. We're not making many mistakes."

The pattern started in the fourth when Jeff Young singled and Shane Kockenmeister walked with two outs against lefty Shawn Freeman. Adam Anderson grounded out to third to end the threat.

The Bighorns took a 1-0 lead in the fifth when Kevin Schlange singled, moved to second on Royal Good's sacrifice bunt and came around to score when Southern Oregon catcher Aaron Hassel threw wildly to third on Schlange's steal attempt.

Maupin, who threw five no-hit innings, was touched for the tying run in the sixth when Southern Oregon managed three singles.

Maupin struck out four, walked two and hit a batter.

"Maupin threw well," Bighorns catcher Tyson Jaquez said. "He was effectively wild. He had enough pitches close to the zone that he got them to swing at. If he can pound the zone (consistently), he's going to be a good pitcher."

"Early I didn't feel very good," Maupin said. "I settled down and started throwing the ball where I wanted to. I kept the ball low and got some groundballs."

The Bighorns had a chance to break the tie in the seventh when Ryan Lane and Schlange singled with one out. Freeman fanned Good and got Mike Stiles on an infield roller.

Nevada wasted another chance in the eighth when Jaquez hit a one-out double and moved to third on Brett Lisher's fly to right. Young was retired on a liner to right to end the inning.

The top of the ninth was probably the biggest disappointment. Kockenmeister hit a leadoff double to right off reliever Marcus James and moved to third on Lane's sacrifice bunt. Young eschewed the squeeze and let Schlange hit away. He walked to put runners on first and third. Up stepped Good, who had already executed a sacrifice bunt in the fifth. He lined to second and Schlange hit into a double play at first to end the inning.

"The thought (with Royal) was there to squeeze," Young admitted. "I even thought about it with Schlange, but he was 2-for-3. At the end of the inning I started to second guess myself. If the squeeze doesn't work, you look like an idiot."

The Bighorns never got a runner past first over the final two innings against James, who retired the final six hitters of the game.

Nahlem, who pitched four strong innings, gave up the game-winner in the 11th. A bad-hop double of the neck of Lisher was followed by Allen Smith's game-winning double.