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Sidney’s American Legion Post 17 Junior team had a busy week on the field, but only managed one win at the end of stretch to build upon.
The week started at home with a contest on Monday May 24 against the Alliance FNBO Jr. Spartans, and despite falling behind early, the Sidney Jr. 1 team battled back to tighten the game despite ultimately falling by a score of 6-to-4.
Sidney’s Jakob Meyer got the start on the mound and used good control, locating the ball well while doing a great job changing arm angles to keep the Alliance batters off balance, striking out two and inducing a groundout to get through the first inning. Sidney got their first look at Alliance starter Josh Aguallo, and managed a single on a walk before Meyer grounded out to third to end the inning.
The second inning started with a quick out, but then Meyer struggled with his control and surrendered bases to five straight Alliance batters to score two runs. A third run was scored when Meyer balked on a pickoff attempt at third, and Sidney found themselves in a 3-to-0 hole going into their half of the second inning.
Agaullo struck out three Sidney batters in the bottom of the second, keeping the home team off the board. Meyer started the third strong, quickly getting two outs on a ground out and a pop up, but again struggled with his command and loaded the bases with two walks and a hit batter. But Meyer bore down and got Alliance’s Nico Olvera to strike out swinging, ending the threat.
Sidney’s Patrick McCartney was able to single then steal second, but made the third out of the inning getting caught stealing third, to keep Sidney scoreless. Meyer started the top of the fourth by striking out Phoenix Stich, but then gave up a sharp double to Owen Grant. Grant advanced to third on a passed ball, then scored when Christian Soriano’s bunt was misplayed into an error by Meyer.
Soriano then stole second and third and scored on a fly out by Tyzen Brown to extend the Alliance lead to 5-to-0. Sidney finally broke through in the fourth when Micha Schneider led off with a single followed by a walk by Meyer. Aguallo was replaced at pitcher by Kysen Walker, and Schneider was able to steal home on a passed ball. But it was the only run Sidney could score, as Meyer then got caught stealing third for the second out.
A single and walk put more runners aboard, but Gillham struck out to end the inning, and Sidney trailed 5-to-1. Sidney then scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth on three walks and two singles, with two runs driven in by a Ben Hashman single, to narrow the lead to 5-to-4. Alliance managed a final run in the top of the seventh, and pitchers Seth Morrison and Nick Wright combined to shut down the Sidney bats over the final two innings to give Alliance the victory by a final of 6-to-4. Ben Hashman had two hits and two RBI’s to lead Sidney. Meyer went four innings, giving up five runs on three hits while striking out five.
Game 1, May 24
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Alliance
0 3 0 2 0 0 1 6 5 0
Sidney
0 0 0 1 3 0 0 4 6 1
The teams played a second game, and again the Sidney team struggled to put up runs. Micah Schneider started the game for Sidney, but only lasted an inning and a half, giving up one run. He was relieved by Landon Riddle, who gave up two runs and then finished the inning. Three runs would be all Alliance would need as Sidney struggled at the plate, and finally put up its’ lone run in bottom of the seventh. It was too little to steal the game, and Alliance took the second of a pair by the score of 3-to-1.
Game 2, May 24
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Alliance
0 1 2 0 0 0 0 3 5 1
Sidney
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 5 0
The high-powered Gering Junior team came for a visit on Tuesday and went to work quickly, jumping all over Sidney starter Reid Fiscus, who gave up eight earned runs on seven hits, and by the end of the second inning, Sidney trailed 11-to-0. Sidney scored one run in the third inning when Jonathan Meza tagged up from third on a Blaine Russell fly out to centerfield, but Alliance again lit up the score board, scoring 12 more runs over the fourth and fifth inning to end the game with a 23-to-1 Gering victory in a mercy-rule shortened game.
May 25
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Gering
3 8 0 3 9 X X 23 16 2
Sidney
0 0 1 0 0 X X 1 1 7
The Sidney Juniors next hit the road to take on Bridgeport on May 26, and despite the threatening weather, the Juniors were able to hold on and grab the victory against the Bombers. Sidney started hot with three runs in the top of the first inning, with Russell and McCartney both driving in runs.
Sidney’s lead was wiped away immediately, as starter Jonathan Meza gave up four runs and his replacement Chris Loyd gave up an additional run to give Bridgeport a 5-to-3 lead after one inning. Fiscus drove in Micah Schneider with a line drive to left field in the second, and Owen Gillham tripled to score Patrick McCartney in the third inning to tie the score at 5-to-5. Bridgeport’s Scout Gamble had an RBI double to give the Bombers a 6-to-5 lead, but again Sidney came back in the top of the fourth with a Jakob Meyer run-scoring sacrifice fly and a Blaine Russell RBI base hit to retake the lead for good.
Russell homered to left field in the top of the sixth inning to give Sidney one more run and the 8-to-6 victory, after Ben Hashman kept the Bombers scoreless in his two innings of relief. Russell had two hits, including a home run, and three RBI’s to lead Sidney in the victory. Loyd pitched four innings and struck out eight, while only giving up one run on five hits.
May 26
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Sidney
3 1 1 2 0 1 X 8 8 1
BPT
5 0 1 0 0 0 X 6 9 4
The Juniors were scheduled to next host Gordon on Tuesday, May 1 at Legion Park. First pitch is at 5 p.m.
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