Elko is preparing for their first league matchup of the season on Wednesday. They will face off against the Lowry Buckaroos at 3:00 p.m. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty run totals in their previous games.
Elko made up a huge gap compared to their last game against North Valleys, but they still couldn't quite topple them. Everything went Elko's way against North Valleys on Saturday as Elko made off with an 11-5 win. The match marked the Indians' most dominant victory of the season so far.
Ryder Miller
| 03/15/25 @ North Valleys | 3 |
| 04/02/24 @ White Pine | 2 |
| 03/15/24 vs Sparks | 2 |
| 03/14/25 @ Sparks | 1 |
| 03/06/25 @ South Tahoe | 1 |
Elko let Travis Monett and Ryder Miller run wild. Monett scored two runs and stole a base while going 1-for-4, while Miller scored three runs and stole a base while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. The dominant performance gave Miller a new career-high in runs. Coy Jones was another key player, scoring a run and stealing Two bases. while going 2-for-3.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Lowry). They were the clear victor by an 18-5 margin over Hug on Saturday. The result was nothing new for the Buckaroos, who have now won five contests by ten runs or more so far this season.
Michael Heikkila and Connor Peterson made a splash no matter where they played. On the mound, Heikkila pitched 1.2 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Meanwhile, Peterson pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. Furthermore, he didn't allow a single earned run, the first time he has blanked an opponent since back in April of 2024. At bat, Heikkila scored two runs and stole a base while going 3-for-3, while Peterson scored two runs and stole a base while going 1-for-4. Peterson has become a key player for Lowry: the team is 2-1 when he posts at least two runs, but 3-4 otherwise.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Erick Valencia, who scored two runs and stole Two bases. while going 3-for-5. He is becoming a predictor of Lowry's success: when he posts at least two runs the team is undefeated (and 2-5 when he doesn't). Bryce Niblack also deserves some recognition as he snagged his first stolen base of the season.
Lowry kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 15 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least eight hits in six consecutive games.
Lowry is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matches. That's provided a massive bump to their 5-5 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.7 runs on average over those games. The win got Elko back to even at 5-5.
Elko was able to grind out a solid victory over Lowry in their previous meeting back in March of 2024, winning 8-4. The rematch might be a little tougher for Elko since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
