Legion Juniors Rally Past Buckley

Last Tuesday the American Legion Post 17 Junior baseball team hosted the Border League Buckley Bombers at Legion Field, and after falling behind early in the game the Juniors mounted a comeback to win the game 9-to-8.

Jaeden Dillehay started the game for the Juniors on the mound, and after two quick strikes on the leadoff batter, threw four pitches out of the strike zone to put a runner on first.

Dillehay was able to get the next two outs while the runner advanced to third, and got Buckley's Xander Speicher to hit a fly ball to left field, but Sidney left fielder Ethan Reichmann couldn't make the play and Buckley's first run scored on the error. Speicher advanced to second on the error, and eventually stole home to increase the lead to 2-to-0. Dillehay struck out Bode Holman to end the inning, but the Bomber's had an early 2-to-0 lead without getting a hit.

Sidney got their first turn at the plate against Buckley starter Bode Holman, and strung together two singles by Sawyer Dickman and Micah Schneider followed by a walk and a hit batsman to score their first run. After Grant Campbell struck out, Jacob Dowse drew a walk to bring home another run and tie the score at two at the end of one inning.

After a scoreless second, Buckley started their half of the third with a double to centerfield by Devon Harshman, and he was driven home by Xander Speicher with a single. After two passed balls, Speicher scored from third on a single by Braydon Lapp to give the Bombers a 4-to-2 lead. Sidney could not bring across any runs in their half of the third, and went into the fourth inning trailing 4-to-2. Buckley again started off their half of the inning with a double by Brandon Durbin, and Dillehay hit the next batter to set up Buckley's Logan Kerr with two on and no outs.

Kerr doubled on a line drive to right field, resulting in two more runs and knocking out starter Dillehay. Ethan Reichman took over the pitching chores, and surrendered two more runs before the Bombers ended their half of the inning up 8-to-2.

But Sidney rallied in the bottom of the fourth, starting with a Jacob Dowse single followed by another single by Austin Lulf that scored Dowse after he had advanced to third on a steal and a passed ball. Two more walks and a fly out scored two more Sidney runs to narrow the deficit to 8-to-6. Micah Schneider was able to score on a steal of home to end the inning with Sidney only trailing 8-to-7.

Buckley's Sam Grabowski started off the the fifth with a triple deep to centerfield, but was thrown out trying to steal home after catcher Micah Schneider caught Grabowski leading too far and threw to third base.

Grabowski was forced to try to take home, but the throw beat him easily and he was tagged out. After giving up a single, the second out was recorded on a Logan Kerr fly out to centerfield. Schneider recorded the third out of the inning by throwing out Eli Meakins trying to steal third.

As the bottom of the inning started, the clouds darkened and thunder started to roll in the distance. Sidney started another rally by loading the bases with two walks and a Jaeden Dillehay single.

After Cameron Leeling struck out, Sawyer Dickman hit a line drive single to left field, driving in two runs and giving Sidney a 9-to-8 lead. With two on and two outs, Sam Hashman took his turn at bat, but after strike one a lightning strike hit nearby, and the game was halted due to weather.

The game ended in a victory for Sidney by a final score of 9-to-8. Dillehay gave up four earned runs over three innings while striking out four and walking three. Sawyer Dickman had two hits and three RBI's to lead the Sidney offense. Braydon Lapp went two for two with two RBI's for Buckley in the loss.