Miscues cost Sidney in weekend split

Scott Phillips baffled Hershland's lineup throughout Sunday's Gering Tournament finale. He allowed only eight balls hit beyond the infield, two of those being excuse me bloopers. When the home side threatened in the third, he fanned Jayden Foster and coaxed Landon Maassen into a feeble pop up, stranding two in scoring position.

"I didn't want to add to the pain," Phillips said.

By that point Sidney had already committed three errors in the field, reacted too slowly to stop Colton Marshall's steal of home and surrendered seven unearned runs. They would compound matters by leaving a dozen men on base, falling 10-6 to close out an up and down weekend.

Most of the damage came in the bottom of the second when Hershland scored six times, wiping out a 3-1 Sidney advantage.  Back to back errors with one down opened the door for the first two runs. Momentarily shaken, Phillips gave up an RBI single and walked in another baserunner.

Before Post 17 recovered their composure, Hershland crossed the plate two more times-once when centerfielder Ben Goble and rightfielder Alex Mastis both pulled up, allowing Justin Wier's lazy fly ball to drop untouched.

"We just had some miscommunication," Goble explained. "We didn't know where each other was at."

The game had started well for Sidney, however. In the first, Austin Pile singled, stole second and came home on a sharp base hit to center by Phillips.

Hershland evened things in their half of the inning, but Post 17 threatened to break things open in the top of the second.

With one out, Goble ripped a double over the leftfielder's head.

"I thought it was going to be a blooper," he admitted. "I've never hit a ball that far."

Mastis and Bradey Holtz drew walks, loading the bases. Pile drove a 3-0 pitch deep enough into center to score Goble, but he had taken a big lead from third and could not get back to tag. On the next pitch, however, his antics off the bag drew the attention of the Hershland catcher, whose snap throw eluded third baseman Marcus Gutherless, allowing Goble to scamper home.

Mastis crossed the plate in less dramatic fashion, when Phillips walked on four pitches with the bases full.

Even the disastrous bottom of the second looked promising for Sidney. Catcher Kyle Burton, donning the gear in place of Colton Onstott whipped the ball to Austin Pile at third, nabbing Hershland's lead runner for the first out.

"It started out alright," Pile said of the inning. "But errors-we didn't play good."

Sidney was blanked in the third and fourth frames, stranding two in scoring position. The finally pushed another run across in the fifth, when Cody Wilson singled, advanced on a base hit by Mitch Rolls and rushed home on a throwing error.

In the final inning, Sidney put together a small rally. Phillips led off with a wicked liner through the middle. Burton drew a base on balls and both moved into scoring position on a Skylar Arent grounder. Phillips crossed the plate when Rolls nudged one to the left side that Hershland shortstop Marshall could only take to first. Burton followed, taking advantage of a rundown play.

That was all, however. The tournament's two-hour time limit cut short any further comeback opportunity.

Sidney finished up the weekend at 2-2. On Friday, they squeaked by Gordon, winning a pitcher's duel 2-1. The next day errors cost Post 17 as they dropped a 5-1 outing to Gering. The team rebounded in the afternoon game, pounding Chadron 10-2.

Eight different players scored runs in the affair.

"We'll be OK," said coach Tim Herrera, assessing the tournament. "We have some stuff to work on--we left a lot of guys on base this weekend--but it's better to get that out now."

Linescore

Sidney 120 012 – 6

Hershland 160 21x – 10

WP – Gutherless

LP – Phillips

Doubles

Goble

Triples

None

Home Runs

None

RBI

Phillips 2, Rolls

SB

Pile