Vandals drop 2 of 3 to end the season

The Vandal boys played three games last week to end their season. They took a 15-8 win over Carlin May 1, lost a Friday game to Wells, 14-1, and then dropped their season finale to White Pine 17-5 on May 4.

In the Carlin game, the base paths were crowded often for both offenses in a high scoring affair.

The Vandals got things started in the first inning when Wyatt Anderson stole home.

The boys put four more on the board in the second inning. The rally was led by singles from Clayton Shoda and Zach Garcia and a double by Mikey Lacovara.

The Vandals just kept putting runs on the board, scoring in every inning as they banged out 13 hits. Lacovara, Anderson, Shoda and Garcia all contributed multiple hits. Anderson and Lacovara were both 3-for-5 batting.

Five Eureka pitchers only gave up one hit to the Railroaders (0-8, 0-5) and they combined for 12 strikeouts and nine walks.

On May 3, the Vandals faced Wells in Eureka, falling behind early and couldn’t come back in a 14-1 loss to the Leopards.

Shoda was the starting pitcher for Eureka. He gave up 14 runs on 11 hits in his four-and-one-third innings. He struck out four and walked one.

Wells put up five runs in the fourth inning and were led by Alin Beane, Miguel Salazar and Jackie Beruman, all who had RBI hits.

Eureka’s only run came in the first inning when Anderson scored on a fielder’s choice. Chris Drayton got the Vandals only hit of the game with a single in the fifth inning.

On Saturday, the boys finished the season playing at Ely, losing to the Bobcats 17-5.

White Pine only had seven hits to six for Eureka, but they made the most of them.

The Bobcats scored seven times in the second inning and nine times in the fourth inning.

Gage Hayward and Wyatt Anderson both pitched two innings for Eureka. Hayward gave up nine runs on two hits, struck out one and walked five. Anderson surrendered eight runs on four hits, struck out one and walked five.

Hunner Doty pitched a complete game for White Pine. He allowed five runs on five hits, struck out nine and walked four.

The Vandals thus completed the 2019 season with a 6-8 record, 1-4 in league, and did not make the playoffs this year.

In the 1A Northern Division playoffs, May 10-11 at Virginia City, Smith Valley (16-1) played Mineral County (15-11) in one game. Wells (10-11-1) faced Sierra Lutheran (5-6) in the second game.

The semifinals are Friday evening and the championship is on Saturday.

The top two finishers advance to the state tournament May 16-18 at Moapa Valley High School in Overton.

The 1A Southern Division tournament at Indian Springs is May 9-11. The pairings on Thursday matched Pahranagat Valley (17-1) and Beatty (8-8), and Tonopah (15-4) against Indian Springs (13-6-1). Indian Springs is the defending state champion.

The tournament continues through Saturday with the championship on Saturday at 10 a.m. and a deciding game to follow, if necessary.