Menu
Nevada baseball edges Carthage in extras
Nevada High School senior Elijah Nadurata did not make Carthage pay Thursday at Lyons Stadium after the batter in front of him was intentionally walked to load the bases in the bottom of the seventh inning of a tie ball game.
Instead, he waited until extras.
"He's a guy who's been looking forward to baseball," said NHS head coach Danny Penn, whose squad won 7-6 — and improved to 5-0 — thanks to Nadurata's walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning. "Lately he's been pressing a bit, trying to do a little too much. Hopefully this will settle him down. There was a little extra pressure there, but to his credit he was able to have a good at-bat."
The game-winning hit scored the base runner at second, sophomore Case Sanderson, who had an impressive game as well with a solo home run in the second and threw the first five innings in his varsity home debut.
Sanderson got on base with a two-out single to left before advancing to second on an error.
According to Penn, though, the game didn't have to be so close.
"We're obviously happy to be 5-0, but it was a game where they gave us lots of opportunities to win," said Penn, whose team might get to face Carthage late next week in the Bill O'Dell Tournament, depending on how the first few rounds play out.
The Tigers opened the scoring in this one in the bottom of the first when Eli Cheaney scored on an error and fellow junior Kartman Highley drew a bases-loaded walk.
Carthage then scored three runs before Sanderson tied it up with his dinger.
"Carthage played a lot of small ball, and we weren't making plays," Penn said. "They did what good teams do: make us prove ourselves."
Cheaney singled up the middle in the fourth, scoring Asa Wilson — and then in the fifth, Cade Beshore, after failing to connect on a squeeze bunt that cost his team an out, drove in Drake Seaver with a base hit to center.
A few defensive errors in the sixth gave the lead right back to Carthage, though, before Seaver tied it at 6-6 in the seventh sprinting home on a wild pitch.
With two outs, Carthage put Sanderson on base to load them up for Nadurata — who grounded to second.
After a scoreless eighth, Nadurata got his revenge in the ninth with the RBI single up the middle.
"I'm happy we continued grinding and making plays," said Penn, who also got four innings of relief out of senior Blake Pryor. "This was a game we can learn a lot from, and fortunately we were able to win it. They are a good team that pushed us to be better, and we rose to the occasion."