For the second straight day, the Spanish Springs baseball team did not play well. A lopsided loss to Carson Saturday left the Cougars with a fourth-place finish in the Bishop Manogue preseason tournament.



Friday night, Spanish Springs (2-2) didn’t get a single hit in a 12-0 loss to Damonte Ranch. On Saturday, the Cougars were well on their way to getting shut out again before a late rally helped the local school close the gap in a 13-6 defeat.

Spanish Springs strung together a six-run, sixth-inning rally that saw the SSHS-nine get their goose egg off the scoreboard. Unfortunately for Spanish Springs fans, the scoring proved too little too late.

Carson got off to a good start. The Senators scored five runs in the opening inning, despite a game delay due to snow. Cody Barr hit a line drive up the middle for a single. He scored on a double from Brett Valley. Valley also scored on the sequence, following two Spanish Springs errors. Matt Rutledge also scored for Carson and Markus Adams was credited with the RBI.

Carson led 13-0 going into the bottom of the fifth and Spanish Springs was in danger of seeing the 10-run mercy rule get enforced. Instead, the Cougars gritted their teeth and got on an offensive role.

Southpaw Rob Valerius pitched the first four innings for Carson and earned the win. Kyle Stone pitched the fifth inning. The game was shortened to five innings due to tournament timing rules.

Beau Hodge and Drew Ernhout started things off for SSHS and both contributed singles. Hodge scored on a double by Cody Nickovich to put the Cougars on the board. Adam Miller singled and sent Ernhout across the plate. Nickovich and Miller both scored later in the frame.

“They made a pitching change,” Spanish Springs assistant coach Ben Hofmann said. “The guys had good at bats later. Their starting lefty did a good job with different speeds and kept us off balance.”

With one out, Anthony Vierra and Tony Robinson doubled and scored for the Cougars to prolong the game, behind 13-6. Spanish Springs scored six runs on seven hits in the bottom of the fifth. The Cougars concluded the contest with 10 hits but hurt their cause with five errors.

Derek Doutre pitched the first three innings for the Cougars, Vierra pitched two innings and Robinson took the final three outs.

Spanish Springs coaches thought they would be pleased to come out of the tournament with a 3-1 or 2-2 record. The Cougars did split four tourney tilts, however, Cougar coaches were not happy with the way the team played in the two losses.

“It’s only the fourth game (of the season),” Hofmann said. “Hopefully this wasn’t indicative on where the season will go.”

Spanish Springs hosts Elko on Friday at 3:30 p.m. and will look to get its defense back into gear Hofmann said.