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.