3 Vigilante Pitchers Blank First-Place Reno

Are the bad times over for the Vigilantes?

By winning their third in the last four games, 2-0 over the Reno Chukars in front of an announced crowd of 2,314 Friday night at Saddleback College, the Vigilantes (14-18) seem to be awakening from their early stupor.

“I want us to have some momentum going into the second half [of the season],” acting manager Brad Lesley said. “We are playing better; we’re not making errors, our bats are coming around and so are our pitchers.”

Starter Mike Smith (3-1) and two relievers handed Reno (21-11) its first shutout this season. It was the Vigilantes’ first shutout as well.

Smith worked the first six innings and gave up five hits. He walked three and struck out eight.

“This was a big win for us,” Smith said. “My job is to keep the game close and I did that. We got the runs we needed and the bullpen did the rest.”

Reno, leaders of the Northern Division, came into Friday’s game as the Western Baseball League’s best record in part because of offense.

The Chukars are batting .327 and scoring at the rate of just more than eight runs per game. They boast four of the league’s top seven batters, led by league leader Todd Takayoshi at .395.

The Chukars also sport the league’s worst team earned-run average (5.63); in fact starter Todd Carl’s 4-2 record was even more amazing considering it was weighed down by 9.29 ERA.

But Carl was nearly as sharp as Smith. For seven innings, his only mistake came in the fourth, when Bret Barberie lined his second home run over the center-field fence.

But in the eighth, Carl walked No. 9 batter Chris Ashbach, then failed to touch first when Takayoshi fielded Mike Moutrey’s sacrifice bunt and tossed Carl the ball. The play was ruled a hit.

Sam Taylor then stroked an RBI single to right, scoring Ashbach. Taylor allowed himself to be trapped in a rundown, but Moutrey tried to score from third he was thrown out by Takayoshi.

In the sixth when, with two out, the Chukars sandwiched two walks around Gary Hagy’s double to load the bases. But Smith got out of trouble by getting Jason Brissey on a called third strike.

That was Smith’s 113th pitch, so Lesley went to the bullpen. John Homan worked around two hits in the seventh, then pitched a perfect eighth. Steve Ceterko pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his third save.