Baseball: Douglas advances in playoffs with win over Spanish Springs

Tyler May broke the Douglas High School record for career wins with a 10-strikeout, two walk performance and Troy Torres came up big at the plate as the Tiger baseball team picked up a 3-2 win over Spanish Springs in Minden during the first round of the Northern 4A Regional playoffs Tuesday afternoon.

Torres went 3-for-3 at the plate with a solo home run and the game-winning hit it the bottom of the sixth to lead the Tigers.

With the win, Douglas moves on to play Damonte Ranch Wednesday afternoon at Wooster at 4 p.m.

"We talked about feeling upbeat about winning the game," Douglas coach John Glover said. "It's so important in zone obviously to get that first win.

"It wasn't pretty, there were two pitchers out there doing a great job. Obviously, there is a sense of urgency offensively now. We talked about trying to get back in the groove a little bit."

The win was the 21st of May's career, breaking Shawn Estes' record set in 1991.

"That's pretty awesome," May said. "Obviously my team got me there. I could do any of that on my own."

May scattered four hits in the complete game and struck out the first three batters he saw. He had six strikeouts during his first trip through the Spanish Springs' lineup.

He carried a no-hitter through the third inning before Berto Espinosa hit a two-out double off the right field fence.

Spanish Springs knicked May for two runs in the top of the fifth on a fielder's choice with runners on second and third from Anthony Viera and a two-out single from Jake Bray. Spanish Springs might have been in line to do some more damage in the frame but Bray was thrown out attempting to take second base.

May came back to retire six of Spanish Springs' next eight batters, including three strikeouts.

"At the start of the game, I was getting them off-balance with my off-speed pitches and my fastball, then they started getting on my fastball more," May said. I started mixing in some off-speed again and it worked out. I just needed a win. First game of the tournament, you need to win. That's all I could do for the team."

"I thought Tyler threw well," Glover said. "That second trip through the lineup, Spanish Springs was doing a good job getting a bat on the ball. He threw strikes and he competes."

While things were working defensively, Douglas had trouble getting anything going against Spanish Springs starter Tyler Eaton, who finished with nine strikeouts and one walk while scattering five hits, three of which were picked up by Torres.

"He is a good pitcher," Glover said of Eaton. "He kept our guys off-balance. We couldn't get anything going to save our lives. You have to tip your hat to a guy like that and be really happy, just feel fortunate that we got out of here with a win."

In the bottom of the second inning, Torres collected Douglas' first hit of the game by homering to left center on a ball that caught a good boost from the wind blowing out to straightaway center.

Douglas scratched out a run in the bottom of the fourth when Kameron Van Winkle dropped a one-out single into shallow center field. Torres bumped Van Winkle to third on a single and Van Winkle scored on a blown pickoff attempt.

In the bottom of the sixth, Torres came to the plate with two outs and Conner Dillon -- running for Van Winkle -- on first base. Dillon moved to second on a passed ball Torres looped a single just over third base to bring Dillon home for what would prove to be the game-winning run.

Damonte was a 13-3 winner over McQueen Tuesday to advance in Douglas' bracket. Reno and Carson were the winners on the other side while Manogue and Wooster will meet in the losers' bracket.