McCook Tournament - Late Sidney rally falls short against Sutton

The Sidney Post 17 senior team was finally able to get on the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh inning against Sutton starter Brody Yost, but the rally fell short as Sidney dropped the game 7-3.

With the loss Sidney finished the weekend in McCook with a 2-1 record.

Righty Scott Phillips started the contest for Sidney and was next in the line of Sidney pitchers victimized by an increasing number of defensive errors over the last few games.

In what should have been a clean, hitless first inning for Phillips, the Sidney infield committed back to back errors that eventually scored Max Olson for Sutton's first run.

Sutton would tally another run in the second inning. After designated hitter Dallas Doupaik smashed a single up the middle to begin the inning, Chandler Stone advanced him to second on a well-placed sacrificebunt. Jacob Greiss then drove in Doupaik with an RBI double to left center, giving Sutton a 2-0 lead.

Phillips got into hot water again in the third, but this time his defense was prepared. He walked the first two Sutton batters in the frame, but then second baseman Jaden Sears and shortstop Bradey Holtz turned a spectacular 4-6-3 double play, nailing lefty Reed Stone at first. Phillips was able to escape the inning without any damage after he induced a pop out off the bat of Doupaik.

As it has been over the last week, the fourth inning was once again trouble for Sidney. Chandler Stone lined out to center fielder Austin Pile for the first out of the inning, but Sutton was able to string together several hits to break the game open.

Leonard Clark worked a walk, and was followed by consecutive infield singles that weren't hit hard but were perfectly placed. Suddenly with the bases loaded and one away, leadoff man Tyler Bailey brought home Clark on a sacrifice fly to Pile, who made a very strong throw that appeared to be in time at home plate. Instead Clark was called safe and Sutton took a 3-0 advantage.

Patrick Dempsey's two-out RBI double then scored right fielder Garrett Stone. Griess who had moved to third on the double, scored on Phillips' errant pickoff attempt to the bag.

Sidney's third error of the afternoon cost it Sutton's fifth run.

Phillips was pulled following back-to-back walks to start the fifth inning. His command was never really quite there but he battled as hard as he could. Phillips finished with four hits and seven runs allowed-only four earned-in four innings, while striking out one and walking six.

"I just wanted to stay cool and stay relaxed," Phillips said of his outing. "I was trying to get one out at a time."

Pile came into to relieve Phillips, inheriting Sutton runners on first and second in the top of the fifth inning. Pile was able to get two quick outs but was burned by another costly error. A harmless looking grounder appeared to be a certain inning-ending play. But a poor throw to first baseman Skyler Arent scored Sutton's final two runs of the afternoon. Those runs were charged to Phillips.

Pile did an excellent job in relief and was able to finish the game for Sidney. In three innings he surrendered just one hit, no earned runs, walking and striking out one each.

"You go in there and you're thinking don't give up any more runs, give your team a chance," Pile said.

Pile did the best he could to limit the Sutton damage. But the damage had already been done. In the end, four Sidney errors plated four runs for Sutton.

That was all the difference right there.

Meanwhile, Sutton southpaw Brody Yost had shut down the Sidney bats over the first six frames. In that span, he only allowed one hit-a single by Phillips in the first inning-and had struck out nine batters.

All afternoon though, Sidney's hitters had forced deep count after deep count and by the end of the third inning, Yost was already north of 60 pitches. Sidney had a handful of base runners throughout the game mostly due to an impressive level of plate discipline that earned a few walks.

"Just be patient and look for the fastball because his curveball was pretty good," said catcher Colton Onstott when asked about the team's approach against Yost.

"We ran his [Yost's] pitch count up very nicely today and I was happy with the patience from an overall perspective," said Sidney manager Mark Onstott. "Early on the patience was there but they [Sidney hitters] were chasing when they could have taken one more pitch."

But still there was nothing to show for that patience. Until the seventh.

Burton reached first on a pop up infield single to jumpstart the inning. Sophomore Keaton Wakefield next drew a tough six-pitch walk. Arik Doty, one of Sidney's stars from Saturday's game against McCook, hit an RBI groundout that scored Burton, who had advanced to third on a Yost wild pitch.

Suddenly there was some life in the Post 17 dugout.

Mitch Rolls was hit by a pitch and once Holtz followed with his own infield single the bases were full for Sidney. Pile, just a tick late on a Yost fastball, struck out for a big second out. Onstott delivered a big two-RBI double that cut the Sidney deficit to four, but that's as close as it would get.

The seniors will play at home against Gordon Tuesday night at 7pm.

Linescore

Sidney 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 - 3

Sutton 1 1 0 3 2 0 0 - 7

AB R H

Holtz 2 0 1

Pile 3 0 0

Onstott 3 0 1

Phillips 4 0 1

Doty 1 0 0

Sears 3 0 0

Arent 0 0 0

Burton 3 1 1

Wakefield 2 1 0

Rolls 0 1 0

Hagerman 1 0 0

2B

Onstott

3B

None

HR

None

RBI

Onstott (2), Doty

IP H R ER BB K

Phillips 4 4 7 4 6 1

Pile 3 1 0 0 1 1