Legion Seniors Fall to Alliance, Buckley

Sidney's American Legion Post 17 Senior baseball team continued to struggle as they hosted the Alliance First National Spartans Senior team on Tuesday and followed up with a double header against Buckley on Thursday at Legion Field.

Dante Peterson made the start for Sidney, and immediately got into trouble giving up a lead off infield single followed by a sacrifice bunt to give Alliance a runner in scoring position with one out. On a 3-and-2 pitch, the Spartan's JJ Garza went deep with a home run over the right centerfield fence to put Alliance up 2-to-0 early.

Alliance starter Ezra Ray looked sharp from the first batter he faced, setting the side down in order to end the first inning. Alliance added to its lead in the second inning, scoring three runs with two outs on three hits and an error to move the score to 5-to-0.

In the top of the second after the first two batters struck out, Sidney looked to score some two out runs of their own when Dante Peterson singled and Nolan Hofrock walked to give the home team its first scoring opportunity of the game.

Ray bore down and struck out Mason Mowry on three pitches to end the Sidney threat. Again the Spartans scored in their half of the inning with two outs on a Collin Schrawyer double that drove in two runs to increase the Alliance lead to 7-to-0.

With a big lead, Alliance rested Ray and brought Elias Gomez in to pitch and Sidney took advantage with a lead off single by Nolan Hofrock. Luke Kasten was brought in as a courtesy runner for Hofrock, and was thrown out trying to steal second on a strong throw by Alliance catcher Collin Schrawyer. A Tommy Ellwanger strikeout ended the inning and kept the Sidney squad scoreless. Again in the fourth Peterson was able to get two outs, but a walk, a wild pitch, then a throwing error allowed Alliance to score its eighth run. Alliance scored two more runs in the fifth inning, and after Sidney was unable to score in their half of the inning, the game was ended via run rule. 10-to-0. Dante Peterson went the full five innings, giving up 10 runs on nine hits while striking out two. Only two runs that scored against Peterson were earned.

On Thursday, the Seniors hosted the Buckley Bombers Senior team for a double header, and the first game had Jackson Witt on the mound as the starter for Sidney.

Witt started strong with good velocity and movement on his pitches, and struck out Buckley lead off batter Drew Coffin. But then Witt struggled with his control, just missing the corners with his pitches against the patient Bombers lineup and issued two consecutive walks.

A single to centerfield by Buckley's Jesus Trejo gave the visitors an early 1-to-0 lead. Dillon Harshman started on the mound for Buckley, and the Sidney squad was able to string together two singles and take advantage of a Bomber's error to tie the score to go into the second inning.

The second inning started with Walter Gil driving a ball deep to right center that centerfielder Dante Peterson got a late start pursuing, and the ball rolled to the fence resulting in a triple. Third baseman Austin Lulf has unable to handle the throw from the outfield, and Gil scored on the error to give Buckley a 2-to-1 lead. Sidney was able to score two runs in the bottom of the inning off a Sam Hashman double followed by a Lulf single to give the Seniors a 3-to-2 lead.

Witt was able to work out of trouble in the top of the third, getting out of a bases loaded jam by blowing a high strike past Bode Holman for the second out, then getting Coffin to ground out to escape the frame unscathed. Sidney was able to get runners on first and second, but were unable to score in their half of the third.

Witt again had difficulty hitting the corners and walked the first batter then hit the second batter to start the fourth inning. Kyler Lenzer was brought in to relieve Witt, but was unable to stop the damage, and the visitors strung together a few singles and a few walks and by the end of their half of the inning, the visitors were up 7-to-3.

The Seniors were able to climb back to within 8-to-5 in the fifth inning, but before the sixth inning started, Buckley coach Sam DiStefano was able to successfully overturn a call from the second inning, when a Sidney run was allowed although the batter making the third out of the inning was thrown out at first.

Although the Sidney runner crossed home plate prior to the third out, the run should not have been allowed, and umpires corrected the score to 8-to-4, giving Sidney another obstacle to overcome.

Sidney did not go quietly, and in the bottom of the sixth inning the Seniors were able narrow the deficit to 8-to-6, although they left the bases loaded when Same Hashman grounded into a double play to end the inning. Buckley responded in the top of the seventh with a lead off walk followed by a blast by Cullen Glosson that easily cleared the right centerfield fence to add two more runs. The floodgates opened, and by the time the inning was over, Buckley had batted around for the second time in the game and held a 15-to-6 lead. Sidney went down in order in their half of the seventh, ended the game in a 15-to-6 victory for Buckley. Again, Sidney was victimized by a rash of throwing errors, too many walks, and gave up too many two out runs to earn the win. The next game of the double header had threatening skies coming in during warmups, and after the first batter of the game, a close lightening strike forced the umpires to suspend the game. The lightning and rain continued, postponing the game until a further date.