Seniors End Season in Alliance

Sidney’s American Legion Post 17 Senior Baseball team travelled to Alliance over the weekend to compete in the 2021 Area 7 Class B District Tournament, but were unable to get a win and advance to the States. The Senior team showed flashes of good play all season long, but were unable to translate their efforts into wins, and that pattern continued during the District Tournament.

Sidney started the tournament Friday evening, taking on the host Alliance, a team Sidney had struggled against in all of their previous meetings. Nicholas Wright started on the mound for the Spartans and was able to quickly put down the first two Sidney batters without much effort. But Sidney’s number three hitter, Micah Schneider, was able to connect for a single and was followed by another single by cleanup hitter Sam Hashman.

Wright struggled with his control, and walked the next two batters, giving Sidney an early one-run lead. Paul Houser was unable to drive in any more runs as he popped out to end Sidney’s half of the inning.

Schneider started the game on the mound for Sidney, and had trouble with his control early, walking the first batter he faced, then giving up a single to Alliance’s Jakob Callan.

After the runners advanced off of a passed ball, Alliance’s Victor Hinojosa was able to drive a sacrifice fly to the outfield, scoring Alliance’s first run and tying the game. Kellen Muhr followed with a single and gave the Spartans a 2-to-1 lead. Schneider was then able to induce a fly out and then struck out Chase King to end the first inning.

Sidney went three up and three down in the top of the second inning and Alliance got their offense going in the bottom of the frame, scoring three runs when an error at third base by Austin Lulf put Alliance’s first batter on base. A single by Alejandro Escamilla gave the hosts runners on first and second, then a bunt by Chase Boyer between the pitcher’s mound and first base had both Scneider and first baseman Sam Hashman go for the ball and leave first base uncovered, loading the bases. A sacrifice fly by Brantz Halouska scored another run, followed by Jakob Callan working out a walk to load the bases again.

Schneider battled, just missing with his pitches, before he bore down and was able to get Victor Hinojosa to strike out for the second out. But Kellen Muhr was able to connect for a single a drive two runs home before Schneider was able to get Mario Garza to grouond out for the third out, and Alliance took a 5-to-1 lead going into the third inning.

Sidney again went down in order in the third inning, and Alliance capitalized on a triple, three walks and an error to put up two more runs to extend their lead to 7-to-1. Schneider was replaced by Paul Houser on the mound for Sidney. Wright started the top of the fourth again struggling with his control, and walked the first two Sidney batters before being replaced by Brantz Halouska.

After getting two strikes on Paul Houser, Halouska hit Houser with a pitch to load the bases. Halouska then walked Jonathan Meza to force home a run. With the bases still loaded, Landon Riddle was thrown out trying to steal home, but Austin Lulf worked out a walk to load the bases again. Reid Fiscus then popped out and Blaine Russell grounded out to end the Sidney scoring threat and keep the score at 7-to-2 in favor of Alliance. Sidney was victimized by passed balls and errors again in the bottom of the fourth inning, and Alliance was able to add two more runs to push their lead to 9-to-2. Sidney was able to get two aboard in the fifth inning, but was unable to bring any runners home. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Jakob Callan led off with a triple, and was driven home via sacrifice fly by Hinjosa to end the game in a 10-to-2 Alliance victory.

Hashman had the only two hits for Sidney on the day, and the Post 17 Seniors committed three errors in the loss. Sidney was unable to get any victories this season against the solid pitching of the Spartans, and had to wait until Sunday afternoon for their next game against the Ogallala Adams Bank & Trust team.

Sam Hashman started on the mound for Sidney, and the big lefty put down the Ogallala batters in order with a fly out and two strikeouts to start the game. Sidney also did not score in the first inning, and Hashman followed up by putting the Ogallala batters down in order in the second inning. Sidney was unable to get any offense going against Ogallala starter Kaden Vogl, and also went down in order in the bottom of the second inning. Ogallala broke through in the third inning, putting together two singles, a walk and an error to score two runs and take a 2-to-0 lead. Jakob Meyer was hit by a pitch leading off, and was moved to third when Houser doubled to center field.

Fiscus was able to connect for a sacrifice fly to left field, bringing home Sidney’s first run of the game. Sidney again scored in the bottom of the fourth on an error by the catcher to tie the score at 2-to-2. But Ogallala was able to take the lead in the top of the fifth inning when Ayden Halligan doubled to center filed to drive home a run followed by a single by Ian Shaw that scored Halligan, giving the Adams Bank & Trust team a 4-to-2 lead.

Houser singled to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning, and was able to steal second and third before being driven home by a sacrifice fly to center field by Fiscus. But with the score 4-to-3 in the top of the seventh inning, Ogallala took advantage of three singles and a fielder’s choice to score three runs and pull away from the Post 17 Seniors for good, ending the game in a 7-to-3 victory for Ogallala, and ending the Sidney season. Fiscus drove in two runs on sacrifices, and Austin Wolfe and Paul Houser each had two hits in the loss for Sidney.

The Post 17 Baseball teams will hold their 10th Annual Sidney Legion Baseball Fundraising Dinner and Auction on Saturday, August 7 at the National Gaurd Armory in Sidney, starting a 5 pm.

For more details and to purchase tickets, visit the Sidney Legion Baseball Facebook page to reserve your place at the event.