The North Tahoe and Incline baseball teams were both eliminated from the Northern Division III regional tournament in Lovelock this past weekend.

Fourth-seeded Incline used a late rally to upset top-seeded North Tahoe 5-3 in the rivals' opening game Friday morning, sending the Lakers to the loser's bracket.

North Tahoe then fell to third-seeded Yerington, 9-1, for an early exit from the tournament.

Needing one more win to advance to the state championship, the Highlanders lost 12-2 to second-seeded Battle Mountain on Friday and 11-1 to Yerington on Saturday.

Yerington went on to defeat Battle Mountain 20-0 and 13-2 to claim the regional championship as both teams advanced to state.

Big seventh lifts Highlanders

After defeating the Highlanders in both games of their regular-season doubleheader, the Lakers carried a 3-1 lead into the seventh inning behind a strong start by senior right-hander Shane Christian.

Christian had limited Incline to a single run on a solo homer by Jack Clouthier in the top of the first inning. He finally ran into trouble in the seventh, however, as Incline plated four runs, highlighted by a two-run double off the bat of junior Tommy Dolan.

Sophomore Owen Graffis, playing shortstop in place of Clouthier, ended the game in the bottom of the seventh with an unassisted double play.

"It was a great win," said Incline coach Jeff Clouthier. "We played defense the way we wanted to all year. Shane shut us down after the first inning. I don't think we got a runner on until the seventh."

Incline managed only four hits off of Christian, who struck out seven and walked three. Aside from Clouthier's leadoff home run and Dolan's go-ahead double, Tommy Thompson and Ben Snyder are the only other Highlanders to record hits.

Clouthier, who pitched a complete game for Incline, scattered nine hits and a walk while striking out four.

Lions roll

The Lakers never got their offense going against Yerington.

Pitchers Tyler Jones and Tyler Schlegelmilch held North Tahoe to just three hits in the contest. The Lakers also committed five errors as the Lions scored a single run in each of the first three innings and one in the sixth to take a 4-0 lead into the seventh.

Yerington added five runs in the top of the seventh to extend the margin to 9-0. North Tahoe scored once in the bottom half of the inning.

The Lions had 11 hits, led by Dakota Thompson's 2-for-3 performance with a home run and two RBIs. Bo Garner, Schlegelmilch, Jones and Daniel Sciarani each contributed two hits. Jones also doubled and drove in two runs to help his cause.

North Tahoe stats from the regional tournament were not available.

The Lakers finished with a final record of 13-6 overall and 12-4 against the Northern Division III.