It would be easy to say Nevada came ready to play — and they did — Wednesday night against the Carthage Merchants. But the pitching staff didn’t do the Merchants any favors by walking five and hitting three batters.
The killer, as it turned out, was a pair of walks in the top of the second that led to a three-run home run, as Nevada pulled out a 7-4 victory in District 15 play at Carl Lewton Stadium. Nevada completed the doubleheader sweep with a 13-10 triumph in the nightcap.
Starter Levi Snyder, coming off a pair of quality starts, worked around a one-out single in the first by inducing a double play to end the inning. But in the second, Nevada was able to capitalize on successive walks to begin the frame when Jerrod Alexander, batting out of the seventh hole in the order, launched a three-run home run over the wall in left field.
“Three of the runs scored came after a walk,” said manager Jerry Poston.
The Red Sox made it a four-run inning when Chris Harris’ squeeze bunt scored Ryan Austin, who scorched a triple to deep center field.
In the fifth, Nevada jumped out to a 5-0 lead when a leadoff walk turned into a run after Colby Shepherd stole second base, advanced to third on Austin Baldwin’s sacrifice fly and scored on a wild pitch.
“It comes back to pitching and defense,” said James Kinder, Merchants’ head coach. “I think we may have taken (Nevada) a little lightly.”
The Merchants (20-11 overall and 7-2 in district play) broke up Ron Johnson’s no-hit bid in the bottom of the fourth after Dalton Cossey broke through with a leadoff single. Cossey and Stephen Poston came around to score on Caleb Fierro’s one-out double, which ended Johnson’s day.
Kyle Wicklund, pinch-hitting for Terrin Garber in the bottom of the fifth, pulled the Merchants within two runs (6-4) with a two-run blast off of Alexander over the left-field wall.
But that’s all the Merchants would get as Ryan Austin, after taking over for Alexander in the fifth, retired eight of the final 10 batters he faced.
