Small schools: Lincoln County pounds Incline in Class 2A tourney

Lincoln County’s baseball team had won eight of its last nine games entering Thursday’s Class 2A state tournament opener at The Meadows.

But that didn’t concern Lynx coach Raymond Wadsworth, who implores his team to take each game as it comes.

Lincoln County showed plenty of focus Thursday, pounding three Incline pitchers for 12 hits, including home runs from Alex Vincent and McKinley O’Connor in a 14-7 victory over the Highlanders.

Lincoln County (28-2) will meet Yerington (25-8) in the winners’ bracket final at 1 p.m. Friday.

Incline used a four-run third inning to take a 4-3 lead, but it didn’t take long for the Lynx to answer, as O’Connor opened the bottom half of the third with a 400-foot home run to straight away center, tying the game.

The Lynx blew the game open after that, by scoring three runs in the fourth, two in the fifth and five more in the sixth.

“I don’t worry about winning streaks or numbers,” said Wadsworth. “All year long our approach has been taking games one at a time. You don’t get caught up in other things if you take each game one at a time.”

Vincent led the Lynx 12-hit attack with an inside-the-park home run, a triple and three RBIs. Mason Thornock and O’Connor each added three hits for Lincoln County.

Jacob Collins drove in two runs with a double for the Highlanders (18-7), who will face The Meadows (19-8) in an elimination game at 10 a.m. Friday.

Vincent also picked up the win in relief of starter Kobe Walker, who allowed four runs and five hits in three innings of work.

Yerington 11, The Meadows 1 — The Lions scored five runs in the first two innings and never looked back in downing the host Mustangs in five innings.

Erik Garcia, Justin Olmstead and Trevor Evasovic, the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 hitters for Yerington, combined for 10 hits. Evasovic was 4-for-4 and drove in a pair of runs for the Lions. Olmstead and Garcia added three hits each and both scored three times.

Olmstead tossed a five-hitter and struck out six.

The Meadows’ lone run came in the fourth on a RBI groundout from Justin Tanaka.

Class 3A

Jimmy Dunagan’s two-out single in the bottom of the seventh plated Matthew Felsenfeld with the winning run as Boulder City rallied to edge Churchill County, 5-4 in the opening round of the Class 3A state playoffs in Mesquite.

The Eagles trailed 4-1 before scoring twice in the sixth.

Clark Newby led off the bottom of the seventh with a single and pinch-runner Isaac Tuenge moved to second when Travis Hungerford walked. Felsenfeld ran for Hungerford, and both runners moved up on Deavin Lopez’s sacrifice bunt.

After a walk to Scott Bahde loaded the bases, Brendan Thorpe’s fielder’s choice plated Tuenge to tie the game. Dunagan followed with a single to left to plate Felsenfeld.

Dunagan was 2-for-3 with two RBIs for the Eagles (27-8), who will face Truckee (28-4) in the winners’ final at 4 p.m. Friday.

Edgar Alvarado was 1-for-2 with a home run and two RBIs for the Greenwave (22-12), who will face Moapa Valley (19-12) in an elimination game at 1 p.m. Friday.

Truckee 2, Moapa Valley 0 — Spencer Edmondson and Tyler Estabrook combined on a six-hitter to lead the Wolverines by the Pirates.

Sawyer Thompson was 2-for-3 with a run for Truckee, which scored both of its runs in the second inning.

Gavin Hadley and Gannon Hymas each went 2-for-3 with a double for Moapa Valley.

Class 1A

Stockton Maxwell tossed four innings of two-hit ball to lead Pahranagat Valley to a 16-1, five-inning win over Smith Valley in the Class 1A state tournament at Overton.

John Hansen was 2-for-5 with a double, and Nick Acosta went 2-for-4 with an RBI for Pahranagat Valley (20-3), which will face Indian Springs (18-7-1) in the winners’ final at 1 p.m. Friday.

Preston Higbee was 1-for-3 with a double and three RBIs for the Panthers.

Isaac Qualls was 1-for-2 with a double for Smith Valley (19-2), which will face Mineral County (17-4) in an elimination game at 4 p.m. Friday.

Indian Springs was a 10-2 winner over Mineral County.