It has been a rough year for the inexperienced Beatty baseball team.
The Hornets went into their season-ending doubleheader against Tonopah with a 4-10 record, 1-3 in the Class 1A Central League. They have allowed 10 runs or more 10 times, including a season-high 32 on April 20 against Round Mountain.
But last Friday, the Hornets put it all together in the first game of a league doubleheader at Spring Mountain.
Senior Armando Gonzalez went the distance, striking out six, walking one and scattering eight hits while going 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk and four runs scored as Beatty recorded its first league win of the season, 14-5 over the Golden Eagles.
The one walk was especially impressive as the Hornets have struggled to keep opponents off the bases. On offense, contributions came from all over the lineup.
Sophomore Fabian Perez had three hits and scored twice. Efrain Villanueva, Jacob Henry and Miguel Castro each scored two runs, with Henry and Castro also driving in two apiece. Perez and Villanueva each doubled, while Henry and Halen Grover each stole two bases. Six Hornets had at least one hit and eight scored at least one run, and they were helped by 10 Spring Mountain errors.
The Hornets picked up a more dramatic victory 10 days earlier when they blew a late lead but scored twice in the bottom of the seventh for a 15-14 non-league win over Sandy Valley.
Perez drove in four runs and stole three bases, while Castro and Henry each had three hits. Villanueva, Gonzalez and Shaun Odell each had a double, with Henry contributing a triple. Senior Logan Poyner went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs.