El Dorado drops Sun Devils in doubleheader

The El Dorado Senior Legion baseball team picked up a pair of wins Sunday against the Sierra Sun Devils of Reno on John Escobar Field at El Dorado High School in a doubleheader.

In the first game, El Dorado (29-3) cruised to a 6-2 victory. Stellar pitching performances from El Dorado’s Troy Booher and Justin Dillon paved the way for El Dorado’s infamous offensive efforts this 2012 season, as both finished with complete game efforts. Booher started and finished on the mound in the first game, allowing six hits, fanned 10 and walked one.

“Troy had a good day out there,” El Dorado head coach Rusty McDonald said. “Only walked one batter, he was throwing all strikes today, and did a great job for us.”

Both Sun Devil runs in the first game came unearned, as the Nevada-based squad picked up the first run of the game in the top of the first and its second in the fifth frame.

Hunter Gallant was the leading hitter for El Dorado in both games. He roped a triple and a double in the first game and was 2-for-4 at the plate. Chris Swineford tallied the only other extra-base hit for El Dorado in game one. With Booher commanding respect from the mound, El Dorado erased a 1-0 Sun Devil lead with a run in the second and tacked on three in the third for a 4-1 lead. El Dorado scored additional runs in the fifth and sixth inning to seal the win. El Dorado finished the game with eight hits.

El Dorado 11, Sierra 1

If the first game served as a momentum-builder for El Dorado, it’s safe to say that game two was a roller.

El Dorado picked up a run in the second inning, then piled five runs on in the third, one run each in the fourth and fifth innings and two in the sixth to 10-run-mercy rule the visiting Sun Devils.

Dillon took a cue from Booher’s first game performance, allowing just five hits and striking out 11 Sun Devils.

“Justin followed up Troy with another dominant performance,” McDonald said. “They both just threw for strikes all day, and they’ve been pitching well.”

Jared Bravo landed himself in the “perfect” category, finishing 5-for-5 with a pair of doubles. Not one to be outdone, Gallant added to his performance, going 3-for-4 with two homers and a double, finishing with  three RBIs in the second game.

“Both (Gallant and Bravo) of them have been hot for probably the last 10 days, couple weeks,” McDonald said. “They’re hot with the bat right now, and they got pitches to hit today.”

Swineford continued to cause damage with a bat, finishing 3-for-4 with a double. Nick Rowen smashed a double in his 2-for-3 performance at the dish.

El Dorado finished the second contest by pumping out 18 hits. This season, El Dorado has never scored less than six runs in its games.

“That’s an incredible statistic,” McDonald said. “When you consider that this is a fairly decent caliber of baseball our opponents are playing. These guys know what they’re doing.”

Starting Thursday, El Dorado will compete in the Reno Wood Bat Tournament that will run through Sunday. El Dorado will play its first two games on Thursday at Wooster High, playing Damone Rebels at 12:30 p.m. and a rematch with the Sun Devils at 3 p.m. On Friday, El Dorado will play one game against the Merced Volunteers at 12:30 p.m. and take on the Southern Nevada Bulls on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Brandon Anicich can be contacted at anicich.brandon@gmail.com.