South Tahoe baseball coach Starbuck Teevan looked like a coach who had just won, not lost, a game.

The Vikings dropped an 8-7 decision in the bottom of the seventh to Carson High School in second-day action at the Mike Bearman Memorial Tournament at Wooster High Friday afternoon. Carson won the game in the last of the seventh on a walk-off single by Chase Blueberg against reliever Liam Loftis, South Tahoe¹s third pitcher of the game.

“We played great,” Teevan said. “We out-hit them. We had a couple of mistakes here and there. Kolby (Eymann) held them in check until the fourth. He was in command early. I thought about walking him (Blueberg) after the count went to 3-0. It¹s the first time he (Loftis) has pitched.”

The Vikings pushed across single runs in the first and fourth against John Holton, but the Senators scored three in the fourth for a 3-2 lead, batting around in the process. After three hitless innings, Eymann lost his control, and the Senators capitalized.

South Tahoe scored four in the fifth on five hits and two Carson errors, Dominic Diana and Garrett Harley had key run-scoring hits. After Carson battled back to take a 7-6 lead with one in the fifth and three in the sixth, South Tahoe extended the game to the bottom of the seventh on a RBI single by R.J. Rivera.

Last year, the Vikings went 15-15 and made the playoffs for the first time in 20 years. This year, they are looking to continue improving despite graduating some talented players.

“We do have some good talent. We have a good mixture of young and old guys,” said Teevan.

The team will be led by Diana and Eymann, the two captains, along with five other returning players.

Teevan said the team will have Elko and Lowry on their radar as tough competition, but he’s confident in his team and their base running speed.

“Those are generally the two better teams in the league, but I know we can play with anyone,” said Teevan.

The Mike Bearnman Memorial Tournament continues at Wooster High School in Reno through today as part of the Vikings 30-game season with 24 league games. They face Reno High School Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and Wooster High School at 3 p.m.

South Tahoe’s first home game is Friday, March 21 at 3 p.m. against Elko High School.

Nevada Appeal reporter Darrell Moody contributed to this report