Douglas baseball sweeps South Tahoe in doubleheader

Douglas baseball coach John Glover looked at the scoreboard after the third inning and saw the score tied at two, although his team hadn't managed a hit yet.

"I looked up there and we didn't have any hits yet, but we were still in the game," Glover said. "That was a credit to the kids for getting on the base and finding a way to get around and score."

Once the Tiger bats did wake up, however, Douglas had little trouble disposing of South Tahoe as the Tigers took a 9-2 win in Minden Saturday afternoon to complete the season three-game sweep of the Vikings.

The Tigers collected five hits in the last two innings to push seven runs across in the route.

Leading into the fifth, however, the Vikings' pitcher Chris Diana had Douglas off-balance from the mound.

"Chris Diana threw a great game today," Glover said. "He is tough and he'll beat people this year, I really believe that. We battled with him all afternoon."

South Tahoe took an early lead, bringing two runs across in the first on two hits and an error.

Douglas got on the board in the bottom of the second when Cory Eilers drew a walk to opening the inning. He advanced to second and third on two passed balls.

After Ryan Pruitt drew a walk, Eilers scored while Pruitt was attempting to steal second.

The Tigers evened the score up the next inning on a similar play when Brandon Bernard, who was hit by a pitch to open the inning, was sacrificed to second by Tim Rudnick and to third by Jordan Hadlock.

He scored while Niko Saladis, who drew a walk with two outs, was attempting to steal second.

Douglas went ahead in the bottom of the fifth when Rudnick reached on an error, stole second and came around to score when Hadlock broke up Diana's no-hitter with a two-out triple.

The Tigers broke the game open with a six-run seventh in which Ryan Pruitt had a two-run single, Bernard had an RBI single and Rudnick bunted a run home.

Troy Torres, who came on in relief in the fourth inning, picked up his first varsity win while striking out two, walking none and allowing one hit.

"I thought he came in and did a good job," Glover said. "He throws strikes and keeps the ball down."

Douglas escaped with an 8-6 win in the first game of the afternoon in an error-plagued outing during which the teams combined for 10 errors, eight of which were committed by the Tigers.

"I was very disappointed with how we played in the first game," Glover said. "I wasn't happy at all. You make eight errors in a game, you aren't going to win. We were really lucky to get out of that one."

Nate Whalin threw a nice game, improving to 1-0 on the year for the Tigers with four strike outs and one walk.

Saladis led the Tigers at the plate with a 3-for-4 performance, including a double, three RBIs and four stolen bases.

Hadlock and Willie Morgan each tripled and Whalin and Bernard each had an RBI.

Hadlock, Whalin, Eilers, Mannelly and Bernard each stole a base as well.

South Tahoe was led by a triple by Stephen Yarrow, and a double and two RBIs from Max Simonian.

Douglas improved to 5-3 on the year and 3-0 in league play with the wins.

-- Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.