Carson Baseball Recap: Galena uses 5th inning rally to beat Senators 8-1
With the regular season coming to a near end, and playoffs around the corner, the Carson High School Senators looked to finish strong down the stretch with a home game against the Galena Grizzlies.
Ben Nelson took the mound once again for Carson, as he faced off against Nick Brown for the Grizzlies. With runners on 2nd and 3rd, Galena took advatage of a Nelson balk that advanced the runners. Putting them up 1-0 going into the bottom half of the first inning.
A quick top of the second inning by Nelson kept the Carson deficit at 1, but Brown responded with a quick 1-2-3 of his own to conclude the second inning. The pitching duel didn't stop there, as Nelson and Brown pitched another shutout inning from the stretch and windup that kept the game close.
The offense resumed to action during the top of the third inning, as a leadoff double by Charles Douglas put Galena in striking position. Second baseman Tom Lichty tacked on another run for the Grizzlies with an RBI single making the score 2-0.
The Carson offense answered with a 1-run, 2-hit third innning thanks to an RBI single from Jace Keema that cut the Galena lead to 1 run, 2-1.
After a scoreless 4th inning, the Galena offense went into hyperdrive. Capping off a 5-run, 5-hit 5th inning with RBI's by Mateo Lemus, Tom Lichty, Andrew West, and Niko Pezonella.
A costly throwing error by Carson added another run to the enormous 7-1 lead. Carson couldn't answer back with a 5th inning rally of their own putting them in a deep deficit. Kyle Glanzman and Cole McDannald came in for relief in the 6th and 7th innings as Carson fell to the Galena Grizzlies 8-1.
After the game, Kellen McDermott gave his thoughts on the positives to take away from a tough loss, "This loss helps us realize we need everyone's head in the game in order to win. Everyone must contribute."
McDermott also spoke about the mindstate of the team come playoff time, "Everyone needs to get out of their own head and own slump and come together as a team. We must try to win together instead of trying to do too much for themselves."
Ben Nelson also spoke about the adjustments needed to be made on the mound, "We need to work on getting ahead against batters we also need to work on hitting our spots better for called strikes. And pound the zone so hitters can't keep producing as many runs off of us."
For Carson, Bryce Moyle went 2 for 3 with 2 doubles, Jace Keema went 1 for 2 with an RBI single. Abel Carter and Colby Zemp each had 1 hit. Carson will look to shake off the loss and bounce back with a win in a rematch vs. Galena April 20.