The North Tahoe baseball team concluded its season in Ely last Tuesday, suffering losses in two of three games against White Pine and falling short of a postseason bid.

The Lakers needed to sweep the Bobcats or win a pair of games to force Battle Mountain to play Incline for the final berth into the Class 2A Northern League tournament.

North Tahoe opened the three-game series on Monday and topped White Pine behind five RBIs from senior Koby Mattson, who hit a double and a triple during the contest.

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The Lakers also benefitted from triples off the bats of seniors Xander Kriston and Sam Sheridan. Sophomore Nathan Whisler hit a double to round out the Lakers’ extra-base hits during the series opener.

North Tahoe returned to the field in White Pine later that evening and built an 8-7 lead after five innings of play, but the game would be postponed until morning due to lack of light at the field.

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After scoring three runs to start the top of the sixth the next day, North Tahoe ceded seven runs as White Pine took a 14-11 win.

“We came back and didn’t play well and didn’t make plays that we normally make,” said Head Coach Jesse Brown. “We’re better than what the box score is showing. We just didn’t put it together when we needed to.”

Mattson swatted a pair of doubles as part of three hits in the game. Kriston also finished with a trio of hits, and drove in two runs. Sheridan drove in a pair of runs as well.

With a limited bullpen due to fatigue and pitch-count rules, the Lakers were topped later that day in the series finale, 11-1.

Mattson scored the Lakers’ lone run, crushing a line drive the other way over the right-field fence.

“We didn’t end up where we wanted to end up, but we made a lot of improvements,” said Brown. “We knew it was going to be a hard year with pitching. In the age of pitch counts, six games in 4 ½ days, we just didn’t have the arms for that.”

North Tahoe concluded the season with a record of 14-12. The team was 10-11 in Class 2A Northern League play.

Justin Scacco is a reporter for the Sierra Sun. Contact him at jscacco@sierrasun.com.