Aces downed by Aviators, 18-9

SUMMERLIN, Nev. – Camden Duzenack nearly hit for the cycle in the Reno Aces’ 18-9 loss to the Las Vegas Aviators on Saturday night.

The Aces’ shortstop put forth a season-high, 3-for-4 performance with two RBIs and a run scored, falling a triple-shy of the cycle. Duzenack also belted his team-leading fifth home run of the season.

Daulton Varsho reached base in 10 straight games with his walk in the fifth.

Reno jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the opening frame. Drew Ellis drilled a two-out single to left before being waved around to score on a Seth Beer base knock, giving the visiting team a one-run advantage.

The Aces lead quickly diminished in the bottom half of the first as the Aviators put a seven-spot on the board off of a pair of RBI doubles, a run-scoring single and a grand slam.

With the score at 7-1 in favor of Las Vegas through two innings, Duzenack sent a long ball over the left-field wall in the third, taking Grant Holmes deep for a solo shot to slash the Aces’ deficit to five, 7-2.

Las Vegas extended its lead to double-digits, 13-2, on back-to-back home runs, a three-run shot from Cody Thomas and a solo homer by Jacob Wilson, and a pair of RBI singles.

Bryan Holaday knocked in the Aces’ third tally of the contest on a groundout to first in the fourth, bringing Jamie Ritchie around to score and cutting the Aviators’ lead, 13-3.

For every run Reno scored, the team from Summerlin responded with a run of their own. Las Vegas scored its 14th run on a groundout to the right side to reclaim an 11-run edge, 14-3.

Josh VanMeter extended his hitting streak to four with a leadoff double in the fifth. The Aces’ left fielder came around to score on a wild pitch two batters later, moving Reno to within 10 runs, 14-4.

The Aces tagged the Aviators with another run scored in the sixth. Following consecutive singles by Henry Ramos, Holaday and Duzenack to start the frame, VanMeter sent a fly ball out to right, bringing Ramos across the plate and pulling the Aces to within nine, 14-5.

The Aviators pushed its lead back to double-digits after a bases-loaded walk to Machin knocked in a run and bumped the score to 15-5.

In the top of the seventh, Seth Beer was hit by a pitch followed by back-to-back walks to Ritchie and Christian Lopes. Ramos roped a sacrifice fly to right to score the runner from third and bringing the deficit back to nine, 15-6. Ritchie sprinted to the plate on a wild pitch three pitches later to score the second run of the inning. Duzenack lined a double down the left-field line to cut the Aviators’ edge to seven, 15-8, through six and a half frames.

Las Vegas’ Cody Thomas launched a solo homer to right in the home half to take an eight-run advantage, 16-8, after seven innings of play.

The Aviators went on to score two more in the bottom of the eighth before Jamie Ritchie took Jesus Zambrano deep for a solo shot in the ninth to round out the scoring, 18-9.

Reno returns to action on Sunday against Las Vegas, with the first pitch slated for 12:05 p.m. PT. Josh Green is slated to make the start for the Aces. Sunday’s contest can be heard on renoaces.com or locally on KPLY 630 AM with Zack Bayrouty on the call.