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The Humboldt Eagles 19Us bounced back from a tournament-opening loss in Reno to tie the host team and tournament favorites later on Friday.

Playing at what is expected to be a highly-competitive Casey Yocom wood bat tournament, the Eagles fell 8-4 to the Diablo Valley Oaks Browns in their opener, and then tied Reno 6-6 later in the day in an eight-inning game that called due to a time limit.

The Humboldt club jumped out to a two-run lead early against the Oaks Browns, but a series of walks and errors cost them a shot at victory in what head coach Matt Tomlin described as “a disappointing effort.”

Cole Ayala was a bight spot at the plate, as he has been for much of 2022, and finished 2-for-3, while teammate Rylan Lommori was 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI and Jared Dixon was 1-for-1 with two walks.

Game two was a much better game for the Eagles and an exciting back-and-forth showdown.

The Eagles led 3-1 early, before the Muckdogs rallied for a 5-3 lead.

The Eagles responded well, however, and re-took a one-run lead, before the tourney hosts hit a solo home run to tie the game in the seventh.

College of the Redwoods’ Joey Quen continued his impressive summer on the mound with another strong outing for the Eagles and pitched 4.2 strong innings for a no-decision.

Dixon capped a good day at the plate by going 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI; Vince Agliolo was 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI; Mason Nichols was 2-for-4 with a double; Matt Letter was 2-for-4 with a double; Cayden Lee was 1-for-1 with two walks and an RBI; Jeran Ford was 1-for-1 with a home run, a sacrifice fly, two walks and three RBIs. 

The Eagles continue tournament play on Saturday but need to sweep two games in pool play to have a shot at reaching Sunday’s final four.