The Lakers dropped their first two games in the double-elimination Northern 2A regional baseball tournament at Mineral County High School (Hawthorne) on Friday.

In Game 1, fourth-seeded North Tahoe lost 11-1 to first-seeded Pershing County (Lovelock). After falling into the loser’s bracket, Battle Mountain, the tournament’s third seed, edged the Lakers 8-7.

Lovelock won the regional tournament with three straight wins, defeating second-seeded Silver Stage in the final to advance to state. Meadows and Needles will represent the Southern 2A at state.

North Tahoe head coach Jack Bernardo said the final score against Lovelock is deceiving because the Mustangs posted seven runs the final two innings.

Lakers senior Tyler Phillips pitched the distance, keeping his team in the game until the end and recording a career-high 11 strikeouts.

“I left him in because we needed to save our pitchers, and being down 4-1 in the sixth was going to be difficult knowing that Pershing could always bring in (team ace) Schumacher.”

The Lakers had opportunities to score, as they had eight hits and drew three walks but left runners stranded on base almost every inning.

Junior Zack Tomlinson was red hot at the plate, going 3 for 3 with a double. Between the two games, Tomlinson was 6 for 6 with four runs scored, a double, triple and RBI. He also pitched two innings, giving up one hit and one run while striking out two.

Contributing a hit apiece against Lovelock were Chris Cahill, Taylor Good, Sean Bernardo (one RBI), Joe Hallman and Tyler Phillips.

In Game 2, Battle Mountain scored eight runs on just four hits. The Lakers had nine hits.

Senior Sean Bernardo, North Tahoe’s No. 1 starter, got hit by a pitch in the right shoulder blade his first time at bat. Laker fans didn’t like it.

“Our fans were real upset because they thought that it was intentional,” said coach Bernardo, “but I would hope that at this level it wasn’t.”

Sean Bernardo pitched 4 2/3 innings before his coach removed him, “because he was obviously laboring.” He gave up seven runs (three earned), three hits and six walks — by far the most he’s allowed all year — while recording seven strikeouts.

“After the game I looked at his back, and his shoulder blade area was all swollen,” coach Bernardo said.

The highlight of the game for the Lakers was a three-run rally in the seventh on hits by Tomlinson and Bernardo after entering the inning trailing 7-4. After tying the game at 7, the rally was cut short when Bernardo was thrown out on a close play while trying to score on a single to left by Hallman.

With the game tied in the bottom of the seventh, Battle Mountain scored the winning run on a two-base error and a single.

Tomlinson was 3 for 3 with a triple and RBI and Bernardo 3 for 3 with two RBIs. Cahill, Hallman and Stefan Glander were each 1 for 3, and Good had two RBIs.

“Overall I thought the season was a success and I hope that it builds a foundation for more players to come out for the baseball team,” coach Bernardo said.