By Madison Waldie Posted April 20, 2011
On a weekend that brought the best weather of the spring, the varsity baseball team played its best baseball.
The Bucks won the first two games 5-4 and 3-2 but dropped the third game 6-3.
“We pitched well in all three games, but struggled to put up runs,” said head coach Ron Espinola.
All three games were, close low scoring affairs and all were decided late in the game.
In Friday’s game, Lowry took a first-inning lead on Mitch Pollock’s home run. Pitcher Bryan Noble kept the Elko offense in check only allowing three runs on four hits. Jace Billingsley picked up the win in relief, pitching the final two innings.
Elko tied the score in the sixth, but Jesse Studebaker was able to score the go ahead run on a wild pitch.
The first game on Saturday, which was senior day, seemed to be a continuation from Friday. Both teams had trouble scoring runs against tough pitching. Anders Pace allowed only one earned run before giving way to Billingsley in the eighth inning.
With the score tied at two, Noble doubled to right and was replaced by pinch-runner Michal Arenas. Studebaker followed with a single to left. Gus Duncan then ended the game in walk-off fashion with a single to deep right-center as Arenas scored the winning run.
Duncan also contributed to the win in the field.
“Gus really stepped up for us. With only a few days of practice at third, he showed that he can really play the position…it’s a real positive note for next week,” said Espinola.
In the final game of the series, the Bucks found themselves in familiar territory…a close game, with plenty of opportunities to win.
“We stranded a lot of runners that could have made the difference in the game,” said Espinola.
Dusty Kraft took the loss on the mound for Lowry in spite of pitching a solid game. Only three of the six runs were earned as errors in the sixth inning allowed Elko to score three runs.
“All of our pitchers threw well this weekend and went deeper into the game than in the past, which is a good sign for the remainder of the season,” said Espinola.
Lowry recognized the team’s four seniors: Kraft, Pollock, Pace, and Josh Yost on Saturday with breakfast and an on-field ceremony before the first game on Saturday.
By winning two games the Buckaroos are now in second place in the league. They will head to Spring Creek this weekend to take on the first place Spartans.
Team W-L Pct.
Spring Creek 8-1 0.889
Lowry 7-2 0.778
Elko 6-2 0.750
Battle Mountain 2-6 0.250
West Wendover 2-7 0.222
White Pine 1-8 0.111
