Courtesy photo
Mineral County’s Phillip Dees delivers during a game at Wells on Saturday afternoon. The Serpents dropped a doubleheader to the Leopards and will enter the regional playoffs at the No. 2 seed against Virginia City tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. in Wells.
Submitted by coach Darren Hamrey
The Serpent baseball team fizzled last weekend in its attempt to own the Northeastern 1A Conference for a third year running. The boys in black and gold struggled to get hits to fall against a tough Wells defense, which kept Serpent runners off base and runs off the board. The Leopards on the other hand, benefitted from blooping fly balls and ground ball dribblers that kept the Serpent defense struggling to make plays.
Tony Dominguez started game one on the hill for the Serps. He struck out two and walked one over two innings. Ethan Nelms, Kaden Sunderland and Phillip Dees helped the committee pitching effort for the remainder of the game, but Wells came out on top by a score of 19-9. Wells drew 15 free bases in the effort which kept Leopard runners on base and Serpent pitch counts high. Bodie Oberhansli led for the Serpents on the offensive side of the ball, knocking two hits and three RBIs. Nelms, Seth Bozzi and Dees all roped doubles while Robert McFalls and Nelms each scored two runs.
The Serpents regrouped for game two with young Treven Wachsmuth on the mound. Wachsmuth handled the Leopards for three innings before registering a few walks and reaching his pitch count limit early in the fifth inning. Dees again came in to close out the game and struck out two in an inning and a third and allowed zero earned runs. The Serpents were unable to put hits together on the offensive side of the ball, but not for lack of hitting the ball. Wachsmuth, David Ditmer and Griffen Inman each posted hits for the Serpents.
The Serpents wrap up the regular season with a 16-7 record, and 4-2 in conference play. They will go into the regional tournament this weekend as the second seed from the Northeast Division. They will face the No. 1 seed from the Northwest in Virginia City at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow in Wells.
As the Serpents step into postseason play they have much to boast about. As a pitching staff, they have registered more strikeouts than any other team in the league. In addition, they have stolen more bases and hold the highest batting average as a team in the state with a .424. Rancho High School from Las Vegas comes in just behind with a .422. “Til the last out….SERPENT BASEBALL!”
