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Truckee baseball | Wolverines get feet wet in Reno tourney

Special to the Sun

The defending Division I-A state champion Truckee baseball team was swept out of the annual Mike Bearman Memorial Tournament in Reno to open the season this past weekend.

While the first four games were against larger Division I teams, the finale was a rematch of last year’s state championship against Elko, which Truckee lost 8-7 despite a late comeback.



After allowing two runs in the first inning and another in the third in Thursday’s opening game at Spanish Springs, Truckee starter Erik Holmer settled down and finished by throwing three scoreless innings.



With the Wolverines down 3-0 entering the seventh, Holmer walked and moved to third on a single by Thor Retzlaff. Retzlaff later scored on a Riley Guiragossian fielder’s choice, but that’s all Truckee could muster in the 3-2 loss.

On Friday, the Wolverines lost by the 10-run mercy rule in both contests, losing to Douglas 12-2 and Reed 10-0.

Saturday morning’s game against Enochs High School saw the Eagles get an early jump on Truckee starter Aaron Pado. Enochs put the bat on the ball and was aggressive on the bases. But the Wolverines had their weakest game defensively, committing four errors.

After giving up eight runs (four earned), Pado was relieved in the fifth inning by Ty Vaio, who yielded just one run in the final three innings. After a slow start, the Wolverine offense plated three runs in the third and two more in the fourth. But it was not enough, as the Eagles took the 9-5 victory.

Saturday’s culminating contest against Elko saw Truckee take the lead in the top of the first when Pado walked and was driven in by a Holmer sacrifice fly, and Chris Towle singled and scored on a double steal.

The Indians came back with two runs of their own off of Wolverine starter Andy McKechnie. Elko took the lead in the third, as

McKechnie began to struggle with his control.

Sophomore Gavin Broad relieved McKechnie in the fourth, giving up only a single run in his two innings of work. Down 7-2 entering the top of the fifth, the Wolverines pushed four runs across, and add another in the sixth to tie the game. But Elko scored a run in the bottom half of the inning, and the game ended due to the tournament time limit by the score of 8-7.

For the tournament, Truckee’s offense was paced by Pado’s five hits, including two doubles and a triple. Chris Towle had four hits, while Retzlaff, McKechnie and Teagan Pado each had three.

The Wolverines play a nonleague game at Colfax on Monday, then travel to the Lahontan League to play games against Division I-A foes Fernley, Fallon and Dayton this weekend.

— This article was submitted to sports editor Sylas Wright at swright@sierrasun.com.


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