DIVISION III BASEBALL: Shepherd’s slam pushes Cougars past Yerington

Jordan Shepherd barely missed hitting home runs in two of his first three at-bats on Thursday.

He left no doubt the fourth time up.

Shepherd hit a grand slam to cap off a six-run sixth inning, and Laughlin rallied to beat Yerington 10-8 in the opening round of the Division III state baseball tournament.

The Cougars (24-8) advance to face Needles (18-6) in a winner’s bracket game at 1 p.m. Friday at The Meadows. Yerington (21-9-1) meets Battle Mountain at 10 a.m. Friday in an elimination game.

“He gave me a fastball, and I turned on it,” Shepherd said. “I hit it pretty solid, got it in the air and the wind did the rest. You’ve gotta play the elements.”

The Cougars trailed 5-0 and 7-3 before erupting in the sixth inning. Ryan Torrance and A.J. Nelson drew back-to-back bases-loaded walks from Battle Mountain starter Chase Ogolin before Shepherd delivered the big blow.

After launching a deep drive foul in the second inning and again in the fifth, Shepherd sent a 1-1 pitch from Ogolin to right field. The ball carried in the strong breeze and tipped off the top of Dakota Thompson’s glove before it landed on the other side of the fence for a 9-7 lead.

“That’s kind of what our thing is,” Shepherd said. “When we’re down, we pretty much own the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.”

Sam Monahan had a run-scoring triple in the third inning and added a solo homer leading off the fifth that gave the Lions a 6-3 lead. He finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs.

Tyler Jones also hit a solo home run for Yerington in the seventh.

Haylan Drescher was 3-for-3 with two doubles and two RBIs, and Averie Prosise, who missed the region tournament with a sprained ankle, doubled twice for Laughlin.

“These kids have played a lot of innings in their high school careers,” Laughlin coach Tony Petrik said. “They believe in themselves. They think they can get it done, and that’s what I like about these kids.”

In the other quarterfinal, Aidan Shaver hit a walk-off single to score pinch runner Devin Darrow as the Mustangs scored twice in the bottom of the seventh inning to stun the Longhorns, 9-8.

Mason Paget tied the game at 8 with a single up the middle one pitch after Jason Nevarov was tagged out trying to score on a passed ball.

Battle Mountain (17-11-1) went ahead with three runs in the top of the seventh. Devin Truscott’s throwing error allowed two runs to score, and Dwight Douglas came home on a wild pitch to put the Longhorns on top, 8-7.

Daniel Itza hit for the cycle and had four RBIs for Battle Mountain. His solo homer to open the fourth gave the Longhorns a 4-3 lead, and his triple in the fifth made the score 5-3.

Needles regained the lead with three runs in the fifth as Truscott had a sacrifice fly, and Benny Robinson and William Dunn added run-scoring singles.

Trenton Poe-Evans went 2-for-3 with three RBIs for Needles. His sacrifice fly in the sixth put the Mustangs up, 7-5.