Dillon Damico (4) turns to throw out a Damonte Ranch runner at first base, during Carson's home contest Tuesday evening.
Photo by Jeff Mulvihill, Jr. | InstaImage.
Carson High baseball didn’t dare roll over in front of its home audience Tuesday night versus Damonte Ranch.
Despite the Mustangs posting a no-hit performance against the Senators less than a week ago, Carson got the bats going and nearly flipped the script in the second league meeting between the two squads.
The Senators pushed Damonte Ranch to extra innings, but fell 12-9 after the Mustangs put up three runs in the top of the eighth.
All night, Carson had battled back when the Mustangs were able to put up crooked numbers in the top half of frames.
Eddie Tierney singled in a run in the top of the seventh to give Damonte Ranch a 9-8 lead, heading into the bottom of the seventh.
Carson’s Ian Fontaine popped in a one-out single to shallow left field to start the seventh-inning rally.
Caleb Morgan walked in the next plate appearance, but a strikeout left Carson down to its final out.
Devon Sanchez, who drove in two RBIs on the night, singled to right field to bring home the game-tying run and force extra innings.
After the Mustangs posted three runs in the top of the eighth, the Senators again gave themselves a chance at matching their opponent.
Tanner Hunt tallied a one-out walk and Aiden Lopez followed with a ground ball, but was able to reach on an error, giving Carson a pair of chances with the tying run at the dish.
Ultimately, a strikeout and a ground out brought the extra-inning affair to a close and dropped Carson to 3-20-1 on the season and a 1-12 mark in league play.
“For a team with our record to come out and compete like that, it shows that these kids have a lot of heart,” said Carson head coach Bryan Manoukian. “The kids’ ability to not give up and fight after the season we’ve had, … I was really impressed with that.”
Early innings
Senior Trey Thomas, one of Carson’s most reliable pitchers, didn’t have his best stuff to open the contest, allowing six hits in 2.2 innings of work.
Of the eight runs that crossed while Thomas was on the hill, none of them went down as earned runs as fielding errors hamstrung the Senators’ ability to keep the Mustangs’ off the board.
Fontaine replaced Thomas and allowed just one hit over 3.2 innings pitched and punched out six Mustang hitters along the way.
“Much needed and much anticipated. That’s the best he’s thrown in a long time. Hopefully, he can build on that and get some confidence,” said Manoukian.
At the dish, Dillon Damico helped the Senators rally twice with doubles in the third and fifth innings.
Damico ended the evening 2-for-5 at the plate with three RBIs.
Hunt and Fontaine both recorded multi-hit performances as well while DeCarlo Quintana, Jeremy Hernandez and Morgan each put together an RBI.
Remaining league contests
With four league games left – three of which coming against the top three teams in the league – the Senators are hoping to continue to build into a team that could scare some teams in the postseason.
With a 1-12 league record, Carson will finish as the No. 8 or No. 9 seed, depending on how the Senators’ final meeting with Reed (0-13) shakes out.
Otherwise, Carson has one chance to show Reno (11-1), Douglas (11-2) and Bishop Manogue (9-4) that it won’t be easy to overlook when the postseason comes.
“We want to be playing better baseball than we have and we did that tonight,” said Manoukian. “We have our work cut out for us, but there was a lot of good things that we did tonight. We need to be better in clutch situations at the plate.”
In the eighth inning Tuesday night, the umpire in the field ejected Carson assistant coach Matt Morgan. Due to the ejection, Morgan will be forced to miss the Senators’ next contest.
UP NEXT: Carson travels to Reno Saturday to take on the top team in the North. First pitch is expected at 11 a.m.
Class 5A league standings
1. Reno, 11-1
2. Douglas, 11-2
3. Bishop Manogue, 9-4
4. Spanish Springs, 7-5
5. McQueen, 8-6
6. Damonte Ranch, 6-7
7. Galena, 5-8
8. Carson, 1-12
9. Reed, 0-13
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