Lincoln County opened the baseball season last weekend by going 2-2 at the Sundevil Invitational at Eldorado High in Las Vegas.
The Lynx lost the first two games Friday, but came back with two wins on Saturday.
Johnny Flores tossed a four-hitter and struck out 10 to lead the Canyon Springs Pioneers 4-1 over Lincoln in the first game Friday.
Jordan Gainey was 2-for-4 with two RBIs for Canyon Springs, which scored three runs in the first inning. Lincoln got their lone run in the fifth inning.
Then against host Eldorado, Tyler Green was 3-for-4 with a double and four RBIs as the Pahrump Valley Trojans hammered out 15 hits to beat the Lynx 14-3. Pahrump opened with a five run first inning and closed with a four run seventh inning.
Lincoln coach Raymond Wadsworth said, “The things we talked about after the Friday games was having the boys take the bats off their shoulders, be willing to swing,” not to wait as so many do for that elusive perfect pitch.
“The kids listened and everyone hit really well against Chaparral,” Wadsworth said.
Pitchers Derek Shumway and Kevin Mathews only allowed two earned runs in a 19-6 victory.
The second Saturday game with Moapa, a 9-8 win, was a pitchers duel until the last inning Wadsworth said. McClain O’Connor went the first three innings, and Charlie Scott went three innings, then relief pitchers were brought in. “I was watching the pitch count, and didn’t let any of my pitchers throw more than 45 pitches at a time.”
However miscommunications, a few errors, and other things allowed Moapa to fashion a 5-1 lead going into the bottom of the Lincoln seventh inning. “But we came alive to tie it up after seven,”Wadsworth said.
Extra innings, at least at this tournament, involved the California tie-breaking rule where each team begins the extra inning with no outs and a man on second base. Moapa scored three runs that inning for an 8-5 lead. In Lincoln’s bottom of the eighth, they scored four runs with no outs to get the win.
“I was real pleased on how we responded on the second day,” Wadsworth said. “To come out and put that may runs up on the board against a big school like Chaparral (4-1) is impressive, and to hold them to only scoring six runs is even more impressive And then the resilience of the team in not giving up against Moapa was very pleasing to see. We were down, but we were never out, as the end result showed.”
Lincoln (2-2) had a game with Moapa (1-3) in Logandale on Wednesday this week, and hosts Parowan, Utah (2-0) in Panaca this Saturday.
The Lynx, the defending Southern Division III league champions, open league play Mar. 17 at Mountain View.
