The Fernley High School baseball team will host Dayton for a best-of-3 series this weekend in the first round of the Northern 3A Region Tournament.
The series will begin with a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Friday, and the third game, if necessary, will be at 10 a.m. Saturday. In the other series’ this weekend, No. 8 Lowry is at No. 1 Elko, No. 7 Fallon plays at No. 2 Spring Creek, and No. 3 Wooster hosts No. 6 Truckee. The four series winners will play in a double-elimination bracket in Dayton May 7-9.
Despite getting swept in three games last week at Elko, the Vaqueros held on to the No. 4 seed because Dayton also got swept last weekend by Spring Creek. Fernley finished 15-9 in league play and Dayton was 14-10.
Both teams come into this weekend looking to regain the momentum they lost the last two weeks. Before being swept in Elko last week, the Vaqueros lost two of three at home to Spring Creek, while Dayton has lost six consecutive games against Elko and Spring Creek.
Dayton swept Fernley in the first series of the season on March 6-7, but the Vaqueros responded by winning 14 of their next 15 games before facing Spring Creek and Elko the past two weeks.
“I had a weird feeling after that three-game sweep they gave us that we were going to probably see them again in this series,” Fernley coach Thomas Chapin said. “I think that was part of the reason we started playing so well right afterward. I think we’re going to do that again after the last two weekends having seen the two best teams in the league.”
Unlike the last two games against Spring Creek the previous week that came down to the last out, the Vaqueros didn’t challenge Elko as closely. After taking a 3-0 lead in the second inning of Friday’s game, the Vaqueros scored just two runs in the remaining 16 innings of the series. Elko came back to win Friday’s game 13-3, then swept Saturday’s doubleheader 11-1 and 8-1.
“There’s a reason they only lost one league game,” Chapin said. “They’re good.”
But Chapin said the Vaqueros are also good, and he’s confident they will respond with a good effort this weekend.
“I know what kind of team these guys are and how they can perform when they play good baseball,” he said. “You win two games this week, and then three next week and three the week after that, you’re a state champion. But it all starts with these two this week, so all hands on deck to get that job done.”
Comment
Comments