Carson visits Reno in 4A baseball playoffs opener today

The 4A regional baseball playoffs get started today with No. 8 Carson visiting No. 1 Reno at Zunino Field.

First pitch is set for 4 p.m.

Carson slipped into the playoffs last Wednesday with a 10-9 win over Douglas, while Reno, 28-3, has cruised the entire season, losing just one game in league play en route to the regular-season championship.

The Senators played Reno tough in the 4A opening series back in mid-March, losing 7-5 and 4-3. Carson has been one game under .500 since that series, while Reno has won 23 of its last 26.

Bishop Manogue is the only Northern Nevada team to beat Reno this season.

“We are just happy to have made the playoffs,” said CHS coach Bryan Manoukian, whose team lost nine of its last 12 entering the postseason. “We are looking forward to having an opportunity to compete with the best teams in the league.

“I have no idea who will start (on the mound). All pitchers will be on a short leash. Walks have killed us and won’t be tolerated.”

The logical choices to start are Ben Nelson, Jared Barnard or Vernon Painter. Nelson has been Carson’s best pitcher down the stretch.

Carson needs to get better hitting from the bottom of the order. Abel Carter, Barnard, Kahle Good, Landon Truesdale and Joe Tonino have accounted for 119 of the team’s 202 RBI. Unofficially, Carter is at .472 with 34 RBI, Good is as at .409 with 25 RBI and Truesdale is at .407 with 17 RBI. Tonino (.346) and Barnard (.316) have also made big contributions at the offensive end.

The Huskies are led by two-way threat Mickey Coyne, who won six games on the mound and also hit .561 with six homers and 34 RBI. Sawyer Jaksick hit .522, John Kane .462 and Kaden Hogan .444.

If Coyne doesn’t start, the Senators could see Brent Thomas, August Souza and/or Caedon Kottinger, all of whom won four times this season.

3A: Dayton opens with South Tahoe

The top six Northern 3A teams meet up in Fallon for the regional tourney. The event was originally scheduled for Fernley, but there was an issue with their softball and baseball field, thus the event was moved.

The South Tahoe-Dayton game is a 4-5 match-up with the winner meeting Elko in the next round.

“Anyone can win it,” Dayton coach Mike Burrows said. “Obviously Elko and Fallon have the advantage because of the byes, but the gap between 1 and 6 is razor thin.

“South Lake Tahoe is a scrappy team that doesn’t give away at-bats and their coach does a great job getting them ready to play. We’ll have to play our best to advance in the winner’s bracket.”

The Dust Devils have three solid starters in Trevor Burrows, Isaac Von Schoff and Jake Madson. Burrows leads the offense with seven homers, 31 RBI and a .481 average. Zach Woitas is at .467 with more than 30 RBI. Justin Schmidt is hitting .392 with six homers and 33 RBI, while Madson is at .373.

1A: Sierra Lutheran draws Wells

The Falcons, 16-4 and 9-3, open the playoffs against Wells, the Eastern 1A champ. Wells was 12-7 overall and 6-0 in league play.

Sierra Lutheran finished second in the Western 1A.

The Wells squad is led by Oscar Casa (.462, 26 RBI) and Juan Berumen (.444, 21 RBI).

Sierra Lutheran is led by Zak and Seth Houghton, both of whom pitch, and infielders Zane Warkentin and Rocky DiMartino.