Submitted by Coach Darren Hamrey

The Mineral County High baseball team traveled to Yerington for the season opener tournament. Being a rebuilding team with two-thirds of the team emerging underclassmen, the Serpents were up against some stiff competition. Their best game came with their first step into the tournament as they faced a tough 3A Bishop Union team.

Bishop was favored to be the toughest team in the tournament but proved to have a weakness in Taylen Wachsmuth. The 6’5” senior shut Bishop down through nearly three innings with a score of 5-0, before a poor defensive effort by the Serpents allowed Bishop to crawl back into the game, eventually pulling ahead in the last inning to beat the Serpents 6-5 on four unearned runs. Wachsmuth struck out six in the losing effort.

Game two was not near as fortunate as the Serpents took a tough loss, being shutout by 2A West Wendover. Senior Andre Davis had the start for the Serps. A new game and a new lineup proved to be detrimental as Davis had no defensive or offensive support in the game. In relief were Ethan Nelms, Phillip Dees and Brandon West as the Serpents limped to the end of the game, registering their second loss of the season.

The second day of the tournament gave the team new life. Youngster Treven Wachsmuth stood atop the hill to face down the neighboring 1A Tonopah Muckers. The freshman was masterful on the mound, registering zero walks, striking out four and giving up only one hit in his last inning before he was relieved. The Muckers bounced back with the help of the Serpent defensive effort and tied the game 3-3 before the tournament time play ran out.

Luck would have it that the Serpents would pull the last game of the tournament, facing 3A Dayton High School. Dayton stacked their pitching staff with three hard-nosed righties to face senior lefty West. West had a consistent outing but Dayton’s offensive strength was too much for the Serpent’s defense. Once again, shaky defense allowed numerous unearned runs to come across, making a lop-sided score of 19-1. The scrappy Serpent offense was able to get runners on base, but were unable to get clutch hits when they were needed.

On the weekend, David Ditmer, Brandon West, Tony Dominguez, Taylen Wachsmuth and Robert McFalls all registered two hits. Ditmer and Taylen both roped doubles, and Treven and Bodie Oberhansli registered a hit each.