Reno High went 30-8 overall, 18-3 in league play and had the Sierra League Pitcher of the Year, Co-Coach of the Year, three First Team selections, six Second Team players, and one Honorable Mention.

HIGH DESERT LEAGUE
Pitcher of the Year
Kegan Peterson, Reno

Co-Coach of the Year
Pete Savage, Reno

FIRST TEAM
Drew Simpson, Reno
Zach Sanford, Reno
Pat Gallagher, Reno

SECOND TEAM
Tom Jameson, Reno
Skyler Kachurak, Reno
Thomas Wood, Reno
Austin Nyman, Reno
Glenn Wallace, Reno
Shawn Walters, Reno

HONORABLE MENTION
Cavin Hill, Reno

Scott Oxarart
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 5/06/2008

Reno High coach Pete Savage loves two-out rallies. Like any coach, he sees the momentum building when his team battles to get hits and runs.

Against Galena High on Thursday, Savage saw one of the best two-out rallies in school history.

The Huskies scored 13 runs on six hits with two outs in the second inning and went on to beat Galena, 20-4, in the semifinal game of the Northern 4A Regionals at Damonte Ranch High.

“It’s just one of those things, I love to score runs with two outs,” Savage said. “It shows a mentally tough team when you do that. We just play one pitch at a time and keep working.”

The Huskies (28-6) will play at Bishop Manogue in the Zone championship Saturday at 1 p.m. Galena beat Spanish Springs, 10-5, earlier in the day to play Reno.

The 20 runs and 15 hits were the highest totals of the season for Reno. Thomas Wood led the Huskies going 2-for-3 with four RBIs and a double.

“We came in knowing we were going to have to put up runs because (Galena) is a great team,” Wood said. “Then with two outs, we just totally unleashed. With two outs that’s what you want to do. It pumped everyone up. We just go up there hitting for the guy behind us. You know, if we get a hit the guy behind us gets to hit.”

The bottom of the second inning lasted about 45 minutes and Galena starting pitcher Levi Stafford gave up 10 earned runs on seven hits and five walks.

Tom Jameson pitched three innings for Reno, giving up no runs on two hits and one strikeout.

Reno spread out its offensive attack with Skyler Kachurak and Shawn Walters each driving in three runs with Austin Nyman, Pat Gallagher, Glenn Wallace and Cavin Hill driving in two.

Kachurak started the second inning rally with an RBI single to right centerfield.

The offense explosion also allowed Reno to use eight pinch hitters while Galena used six pitchers.

“Our guys were patient and got good pitches to hit,” Savage said. “We carry a big roster. It was important for every guy to work hard and we were able to get some at bats.”

Galena was down 20 before hitting three home runs in the fifth inning. Luke Hess and Eric Underwood each hit solo home runs and Brian Pointer hit a two-run shot.

Reno will now point its focus toward Bishop Manogue.

“Manogue is obviously a talented team and a top-notch program,” Savage said. “It should be an exciting game. They’re very well coached.”

Justin Lawson
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 5/11/2008

At practice last week, the Reno Huskies baseball team conducted drills behind the shadows of their backstop where 11 regional championship and five state championship signs hang. No current player was a part of any of those championships.

But after Saturday, things will have to be changed.

Reno took its dominant pitching and red-hot bats to Bishop Manogue, where it seized a 13-3 win in the Northern 4A Regional championship game a year after it missed the playoffs.

It was the Huskies’ first title since 2004.

“Last year we were done by now and we knew that we had to work hard to get back to where we wanted to be, and we’ve done it,” Reno pitcher Kegan Peterson said.

Through four innings, Peterson expertly pitched to what could have been a powerful Miners offense. He allowed just four hits, struck out seven batters and increased his undefeated record to 9-0 on the season. The senior’s performance was a testament to his desire to get Reno (31-5) back to its championship caliber. Perterson was sidelined just two weeks ago, after taking a line drive to the wrist against North Valleys on April 24.

“Kegan absolutely amazed me,” Reno shortstop Thomas Wood said. “He came in with a hurt hand, a hurt arm and he just battled for us all game long and gave us his best.”

In return, Reno’s offense gave Peterson its best. All of the Huskies’ starters reached base safely at least once and all but one scored at least one run.

“We came in swinging the bat hard, knowing we were going to have to score some runs against these guys and just didn’t stop,” Wood said.

The win looked just like any of Reno’s other 31 victories this season as it was a team effort.

“From the guy that has thrown two or three innings to the guy that’s thrown 50 innings, everybody’s equally important and I’m just real proud of each and every one of these players,” Reno coach Pete Savage said. “They deserve this.”

The Huskies were the first team in the playoffs to quiet Manogue’s offense. The Miners (29-7) had scored at least eight runs in their three previous playoff games, but couldn’t get going against Peterson.

“I had to work ahead and work down in the zone,” Peterson said. “These guys are good hitters and if I make mistakes I know they’ll hit it so I just had to play to my game and my strengths.”

Manogue didn’t register its first hit of the game until Craig Batory’s one-out double in the third. He came home two batters later on a Brett Hinkley two-out single that made it 9-1. It looked as if the Miners’ offense was going to pick it up.

But Peterson squashed any potential Manogue rally by striking out Joe Wieland to end the inning.

Even though the Miners were down big early, they stayed with it and got things going in the fifth when Batory hit a lead-off single to start the inning. Peterson was pulled after the hit in favor of Tom Jameson, who allowed the Miners to score one more run before closing the game out.

“The kids stayed up all day and kept in their game. I’m just proud of them for that,” Manogue coach Charles Oppio said. “Reno just came out hitting the ball and never stopped. Everything they hit found a hole, I mean, they had a great approach at the plate. … They must have hit 10 balls up the middle. All the balls went right over the bag, short of playing a guy at second base, I don’t know what the solution was.”

Oppio surprised most people by not using Wieland on the mound, instead opting to use five other pitchers. The senior led the High Desert League in most categories, including strikeouts (68) and earned run average (1.02), but Oppio said he was looking at the bigger picture.

“I would have liked the matchup, I could have thrown Joe today and he was itching to go but I just thought we were better off making sure he was 100 percent and well rested,” Oppio said.

Both teams advanced to the state tournament, but Reno will catch a break because it will not play Bishop Gorman in the first round. The Gaels are the No. 3-ranked team in the nation, according to maxpreps.com, and will face Manogue on Thursday. Instead, the Huskies will play Green Valley, and begin their quest to add one more sign on the backstop.

Justin Lawson
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 5/06/2008

When the Reno baseball team walks up to Zunini Field every day for practice, the players walk past a sign that stands just above their heads at the entrance that reads, “We believe.”

Last year, when Reno missed the playoffs, they still believed in themselves and now the returning players have worked that belief into a Sierra League championship and a No. 1 seed in the Northern 4A Regional playoffs, which begins today. The Huskies might be the favorite to win the North this season.

“I’m sure we’re all going to be ready and pumped up,” said Kegan Peterson, who could be the starting pitcher for the Huskies in their first round game today against Spanish Springs. “We’ve been waiting for this for two years and for some of us, it’s our last year.”

Peterson said the Huskies seem to be peaking as they head into playoffs and if that’s true the rest of the North better watch out because Reno has been one of the most consistent teams all season. Peterson posted five wins, struck out 43 batters and led the North with a 0.00 ERA. His teammate, Drew Simpson, led the North in wins with six and led the Sierra League in innings pitched with 32.

“We’re all coming together a lot more this year and our team chemistry is really good right now,” Peterson said. “We all have one goal and that’s to continue to play and hopefully win state so we’re just going to take it one game at a time.”

As good as the Huskies have been all season, Bishop Manogue, the other No. 1 seed in the tournament, has been nearly as impressive. Joe Wieland has done just about anything the Miners have asked of him. He has a 0.24 ERA, 52 strikeouts, 31 runs batted in and a 1.225 slugging percentage, which all lead the High Desert League.

But in Wieland’s last game against Damonte Ranch, the Miners’ first-round opponent, Manogue lost a 1-0 game on a wild pitch.

“I’m sure we’ll see him and we had a good matchup against him last time in the preseason tournament and we’re certainly expecting to have a battle again,” Damonte coach Jon Polson said.

Of all the teams in the tournament, the fourth-seeded Mustangs might have the most to prove. Damonte started off the year on a 13-game win streak before the wheels fell off and the team went 3-7 over its next 10 games.

The good news for the Mustangs is their No. 1 pitcher is back in the rotation after missing most of the season. Jake Johnson injured his hand in a preseason game on March 12. The senior made several appearances at the end of the season so he would be ready for the playoffs.

Last year’s Northern champs, Galena, is looking to get back to the championship game for the fourth consecutive year. The No. 2-seeded Grizzlies have been playing the best baseball of their season with Jacob Anderson toeing the mound along with Joshua Evans emerging as a possible successor to Anderson. Hitting has never been an issue for Galena with Anderson, Scott Underwood , Eric Underwood and Jake Hess doing the most damage in the middle of the lineup.

If Galena beats No. 3 Carson in the first round, it could set up a rematch of a 2006 second-round game in which the second-seeded Grizzlies beat the No. 1-seed Huskies on their way to a Northern championship.

With all adversity Reno would have to overcome to win the Northern championship, the Huskies are reverting back to what got them here in the first place: belief.

“If we come together and all want it as much as we do right now, we could go as far as we want,” Reno infielder Glenn Wallace said.

Robert Perea
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 5/03/2008

MINDEN — The region tournament may not start until Tuesday, but Reno and Douglas got a taste of postseason baseball a few days early.
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In a game full of playoff atmosphere and intensity, and with the Sierra League championship at stake, the Huskies outlasted the Tigers, 9-7, in eight innings Friday afternoon to win the league title and No. 1 seed for next week’s Northern 4A tournament.

Douglas will enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed.

“It is playoff baseball,” Reno coach Pete Savage said. “We looked at this as a playoff game.”

Cavin Hill drove home the winning run and earned the win on the mound, with a big assist from leftfielder Zach Sanford.

Tim Rudnick doubled home two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game 7-7 and cap Douglas’ rally from a 7-2 deficit. Hill then came on in relief, but the first batter he faced, Troy Torres, grounded a single to left field. Sanford charged the ball and threw a perfect strike to the plate to cut down Rudnick and keep the game tied.

“I was so happy when he threw him out at home,” Hill said. “That was a great throw.”

“That was a perfect throw, and if they can play catch like that, they deserve the out,” Douglas coach John Glover said. “We’re going to take that gamble every time.”

Reno (24-6 overall, 18-3 Sierra League) took a 7-4 lead to the bottom of the seventh, but Douglas (21-9 overall, 16-5 Sierra League) rallied against reliever Tom Jameson. Singles by Kyle Flagg and Beau Davis put runners on first and third, and Jordan Hadlock followed with a deep sacrifice fly to right to score a run and make it 7-5. After Tanner Thomas singled, Rudnick drove the ball to the wall in straightaway center field, scoring Davis and Thomas.

“The kids didn’t quit and that’s the thing I’m happiest about,” Glover said.

Reno scored in each of the first five innings, building a 7-2 lead behind starter Glenn Wallace. Sanford drove in two runs in the first inning with a bloop single and Pat Gallagher singled home two in the second to make it 4-0. Reno scored single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings, to run their streak to 11 consecutive innings with at least one run before Hadlock took the mound in relief and held them scoreless in the sixth and seventh innings.

“The last two games, the last two days, have been crazy, and it’s good for us because the playoffs start next week,” Hill said. “That’s what we need to do in the playoffs.”

“That’s the best part of having a series like this at the end of the year,” Glover said. “We’ve got new life Tuesday and hopefully we can take advantage of it.”