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.”