Tonopah — All year the Tonopah fans have been waiting for this game. The fans knew all the other games were meaningless unless the team could beat Pahranagat Valley. All the games were practice for this one series with Pahranagat Valley, the current state champion.
Muckers coach Clark Jewett has said all year that they hadn’t played anyone and now the team has bragging rights.
Tonopah took both games against the Panthers from Alamo 5-3 and 12-7.
This victory means the Muckers are all alone in first place of Division IV.
Senior Tyler Gallegos said this was a big win for the team.
“They are four time state champs and we were tied in league, so beating them put us at the top and sent a message to Nevada,” he explained. “We had to play nearly perfect. Our fielding was great and our outfield stepped up huge.”
The young team only has two seniors, Gallegos and Jason Carman.
According to Gallegos, “Jason and I had to keep the team going and the young players stepped up too and hit the ball. They performed when the pressure was on,” Gallegos explained.
Jewett knew his team could beat the Panthers.
“I told my players before the game that if we play almost perfect ball we won’t lose. Our patience at the plate paid off. We couldn’t do a lot until we put up seven runs in the fourth inning, and a lot of those runs were because the pitcher from Alamo lost his control,” Jewett said.
The coach also admitted that in the second game the Panthers’ pitcher threw a bit harder and it took them a bit before the Muckers started to hit him.
The first game was a “real good tight game,” according to Jewett that ended up with a score of 3-5. Although the Muckers didn’t have any issues in the first game, some aspects of their game just worked better in the second one.
With a current record of 22-2-1 and 10-0-0 in League, the Tonopah baseball team is the most consistent team of Division IV Southern League.
Today the Muckers play the last games of the regular season against Indian Springs (League: 8-2-0) at home. Jewett wants both wins.
“If we win, we will be undefeated in league and the No. 1 seed for divisionals, and also we will finish undefeated at home, something I have not done in the 15 years as coach,” Jewett explained.