Bouncing back from a 13-0 loss to Dayton High earlier in the week, South Tahoe baseball hosted the Truckee Wolverines in double-header Wednesday, April 5.

The Vikings came out on top with an 8-3 win in game one and a 5-4 win in game two. South Tahoe is holding steady at fourth place in Div. 1-A Northern standings. “We hit the ball well,” said South Tahoe head coach Starbuck Teevan. “We’re coming off of a loss and it’s nice to be able to respond. We’re happy with the win.”

Game one had both teams back and forth in the early innings, fighting to take the lead. Sophomore Kevin Lehmann helped the Vikings put some runs on the board to give the team a little breathing room. He went 2-for-4, singling and doubling to put up two runs for South Tahoe.

Senior Peyton Galli later helped seal the win for South Tahoe with his three-run homer. He went 1-for-3 in the game. Senior Garrett Harley tacked on one hit and a run for the game. Junior Tyler Wattanachida’s two walks helped the Vikings grab a couple more runs. “We started off not exactly how we wanted to,” said Galli. “But we’ve gotten some wins lately, some big wins, and I think we’re going to be good. We have a field now and we’re not in a gym so that helps.”

Up until recently, South Tahoe baseball and softball were working around not having a field due to all the snow. “Now that we’re on the field, I definitely think we’ve started to step it up,” said Harley. “All we have to do is keep our bats alive and our pitchers throwing strikes. If we do that, I feel like we can beat anybody.”

Harley was the starting pitcher for game one, recording three strikeouts and holding the Wolverines to three runs in five innings. Sophomore Austin Burdick relieved Harley to finish the final two innings and shut the door on Truckee.

Teevan said that Truckee is a scrappy team and usually keeps South Tahoe on its toes. That was definitely the case for game two, with Truckee right behind the Vikings at every turn. “We made the plays when we had to,” said Teevan. “We made some mistakes, but we fought through it. Truckee battled the whole time.”

Harley enjoyed another offensive showing, going 3-for-4, with two triples, a single and an RBI. Galli went 1-for-2, tripling for two RBIs and sophomore Alex Kasper went 1-for-2, tripling for two RBIs. Galli was the starting pitcher for the game and Chris Pfister the closer.

Truckee came dangerously close to bringing the game to a tie in the seventh inning when they scored a run, making it a 5-4 game; Truckee then put a couple players on base with only one out to put the pressure on South Tahoe, but the Vikings came through with a clutch defensive play to squash Truckee’s advance.

“They [Truckee] had the tying run on first base with the game on the line,” said Teevan. “We just happened to make that one double-play so that helped.”

Teevan said the team is still working on making less mistakes and capitalizing when they have men on base. “We had three opportunities with guys on third base with no outs and we didn’t score them, which is frustrating,” said Teevan.

The team will head to San Diego for a tournament next week before making its way back home for 1-A Northern league play next week. “We’re going to see some good competition,” said Teevan. “It will hopefully give us a better idea of where we are moving forward.“