Carson High’s Will Raggett connects with his game-winning single in extra innings Thursday evening at Peccole Park. Raggett’s RBI base hit gave the Senators a 4-3 win over Damonte Ranch, marking the team’s second walk-off win in the last five days.
Photo by Jeff Mulvihill, Jr. | InstaImage.
The last five days have featured quite the roller coaster ride for Carson High School baseball fans.
Thursday night at Peccole Park on the University of Nevada, Reno campus, the Senators put together a 4-3 victory over Damonte Ranch in the eighth inning of play, walking off winners.
In the bottom of the eighth and tied 3-3, senior Will Raggett stepped to the dish with two outs and runners on first and third.
Raggett was not the usual choice, but he was the No. 9 hitter after pitching the top of the eighth.
“He’s a P.O.,” said Senator junior Ethan Cook.
P.O. – Pitcher Only.
The first pitch he saw he took for a ball.
The second he returned to sender on a hard ground ball straight past the Mustangs’ pitcher and into center field.
“See ball, hit ball,” said Raggett postgame. “Ball is in the zone. Barrel is in the zone.”
There was no doubt when it left the bat the game was over and the Carson dugout spilled up the home first base line in celebration.
“It was pretty good,” said Cook on Raggett’s game-winning swing. “You never see that from him. He never gets to hit batting practice. … He ended up coming up big. It was nice. We were all excited to see that guy do it.”
The Senators beat Reed with an eighth-inning walk-off last Saturday in Carson.
NO PRESSURE
As a senior, Raggett had recorded at-bats before.
Four, to be exact.
The inning could have been a pressure cooker for Raggett, who issued two one-out walks in the top of the eighth after coming out of the bullpen.
He didn’t let it bother him.
“I walked them, but I got right back into it,” said Raggett. “I got the next out.”
He recorded the next out on one pitch before inducing a groundout to end the top half of the frame.
Noah Hutchison turned on the first pitch he saw with one out in the bottom of the eighth, finessing a groundball into the hole at short that the Mustangs couldn’t get to in time.
Eli Locatelli singled three pitches later, punching a ball into right field that allowed Hutchison to scamper from first to third.
A strikeout brought the Senators within one out of going another inning, but Raggett finished off the win.
On the mound, Cook got the starting nod and struck out five over five innings of work.
His efficiency was ideal has he led off the second, third, fourth and fifth innings with a first-pitch out.
Cook’s first inning was smooth, too, with a pair of strikeouts.
His defense helped him out a few times as well as Locatelli made a headfirst, diving catch in right field in the second inning.
In the third, a Cook punch out turned into a double play when sophomore catcher Chase Grundy fired the third strike to second base to catch a Mustang runner stealing for the third out.
In the fourth, a 5-4-3 double play kept the Mustangs without a run through four innings.
“I don’t have a lot of velocity, so I just pitch to contact and let my defense do all the work. I like that a lot,” said Cook.
He helped himself out with a RBI groundout on a check swing in the third, which gave Carson a 2-0 lead.
Damonte scored two unearned runs in the fifth and hit a solo home run in the sixth to go up 3-2.
In the bottom of the seventh, Cook quickly went down 0-2 at the plate, but was able to see six more pitches before hitting a hard ground ball to short and plating an unearned, but game-tying run.
UP NEXT: Carson (5-11, 2-5 in Class 5A North league play) will be back in action tomorrow (Saturday) at Spanish Springs (12-5, 3-1).
(Landon Martin makes a swipe tag at second base Thursday evening against Damonte Ranch. Martin and the Senators beat the Mustangs on the campus of University of Nevada, Reno at Peccole Park. / Jeff Mulvihill, Jr. | InstaImage)