“Oh, wow, it was so scary,” said Gardner, now a senior third baseman. “The coaches were so serious. I was so nervous.”

Reno Huskies baseball is not for the timid, weak or shy.

“The first time you meet Coach (Pete) Savage, it is real intimidating,” senior pitcher Bryan Carano said.
If Savage’s detail-oriented, no-nonsense approach isn’t enough to scare a young Husky, there’s always the retired numbers of Reno legends Fred Dallimore, Bud Beasley and Shawn Boskie out on the center-field fence or the baseball-styled signs along the backstop fence commemorating all the state titles and region championships.

“I try to mirror just about everything they do,” said Damonte Ranch head coach Jon Polson, a former Savage assistant coach for six seasons. “You look at the consistency they’ve put forth over the last 10 or 15 years. Nobody can touch that. What they’ve done is amazing.”

The Huskies have failed to qualify for the state tournament just three times under Savage. The 2002-04 Huskies had an unbelievable run of two regional titles, one state championship and 105 victories in 118 games. If there is a baseball academy in Northern Nevada, it’s home is down on Booth Street and Foster Drive in the heart of Reno and it is dressed in Reno Huskies red, white and blue.

“You can’t believe how many parents call Pete and tell him that they want their son to play for him,” said former Huskies assistant coach Stew Colton, whose two sons played for Savage. “But very few of those kids ever come to the school, especially after he tells them about the level of dedication that is involved.”

“We won’t lower our standards for any one player,” Savage said. “When a kid tells us he wants to come to our school we tell him that he has to excel on and off the field.”

The Huskies excel on and off the field. This year’s team, Savage says, has a 3.5 grade point average.

“It takes a lot of hard work,” senior pitcher/shortstop Davis Banks said. “It’s 11 months out of the year. But that’s a sacrifice we’re all willing to make to be a part of this program.”

Savage has created something bigger than any one player or one coach. He’s built a baseball machine that seems to feed off itself and grows stronger with each passing season.
“When you are a senior here, you are expected to be a role model and help teach the young guys,” Gardner said. “You make sure the young guys know what it’s all about.”

Savage points out that the Reno baseball way was in place long before he took over the program in 1995.

“This has always been a great baseball program, ever since the days of (coaches) Bill Penaluna and Bud Beasley,” said Savage, a former Reno star player himself in the late 1970s and a long-time Huskies assistant coach. “This has always been a winning program. We just kind of continued the winning tradition.”

Want consistency? The Huskies have yet to win fewer than 22 games in a season under Savage, a streak that seems safe this year with 14 victories in their first 16 games.
“In a nutshell, it all comes down to commitment,” Colton said. “The coaching staff and the players are all committed to the program. But it all starts with Pete. Pete is the biggest reason why that program has so much success.”

There are currently four former Savage players in professional baseball’s minor leagues (Jeff Schoenbachler, James Holcomb, Jim Wallace, Marc Kaiser) and 16 in college. Sending even one kid to college through baseball is more important to Savage than winning a dozen state titles.

“We concentrate so much on player development,” Savage said. “With us, it really isn’t about the wins and losses. Our goal as a staff is to make our players better. It starts in the fall and winter and continues all year. It’s about developing kids physically, mentally and emotionally. We try to develop the total player by teaching and reinforcing life skills to help them become successful in life.”

Baseball at Reno High is about more than hits, runs and errors.

“This isn’t just baseball out here,” Carano said. “It’s life. Coach Savage eats it, drinks it, sleeps it. And that’s what is so great about being a part of this.”

Baseball is definitely not a walk in the park at Reno High.

“Pete Savage is a tireless worker,” Polson said. “The man leaves no stone unturned. He does a fantastic job of breaking down the strengths and weaknesses of all his opponents. Nobody scouts like Pete and his staff. That allows them to put their kids in a great position to be successful.”

“I really believe that the successful programs work the hardest,” said Savage, who takes offense at the notion that Reno High wins because it always gets the best players. “It’s all about hard work, good character and teamwork. We just don’t stand for anything less than that.”

Everyone who wears a Reno uniform, from the assistant coaches to the last kid on the roster who might get five at-bats all season, is subject to the Savage work ethic.

“Our practice sessions would come with four pages of notes,” Colton said. “Every little thing was written down. I’d tell him, ‘Pete, can’t you give us a one-pager once in a while?’ But he almost has an obsessiveness about it. Nobody works harder than Pete. I’d always tell him, ‘Pete, you have a wife and three kids. Go spend time with them.’ “He coaches the Reno Knights (the Huskies summer team) for 60 or 70 games. When most guys are off camping or fishing or on vacation with their families, Pete is out there coaching all summer. But he just loves baseball, he loves coaching and he loves teaching.”

Colton cherished his nine years working under Savage and the two still talk almost daily. Polson, even though he coaches a rival team, also talks to Savage on a regular basis.

“Pete isn’t afraid to hire assistant coaches who might know more about a certain area of the game than he does,” said Colton, a former Wolf Pack and Kansas City Royals minor league pitcher. “A lot of coaches are afraid of that. They want to run the whole show. Not Pete.
“I was in charge of the pitching. Jon Polson was the hitting coach and set the outfield defense. Steve Boucher was the infield coach. Pete was in charge of the personnel, keeping the kids in line, filling out the lineup card and coaching third.

“A lot of guys at the high school level have a tendency to want to do everything. They call the pitches, they coach third, they coach the hitters. Their assistant do don’t all that much. Pete lets his assistants do their job.”

Polson left after the 2003 season to start the Damonte Ranch program. Colton retired from coaching so he could spend more time watching his sons Adam and Ben play college baseball.

“We both left the year before they (Reno) won staten 2004),” Colton said. “But Pete knew those were all our kids. He bought us state championship rings even though we weren’t with the program anymore. That’s the kind of guy he is.”

Savage clearly practices what he preaches.

“I take it very seriously,” Savage said. “Coaching is very fulfilling. But there are many different types of coaches. If you coach for the right reasons, you’ll stay in it longer and enjoy it more and get more satisfaction out of it. If you coach just for the wins and the championships, you’re in it for the wrong reasons and you won’t last as long.”