After a few idle weeks since the high school season and a pair of rainouts, the Blair Senior Legion baseball team finally returned to Vets Field for games against Ralston and the Elkhorn Training Camp (ETC) Knights.
The Post 154 Bears went 1-1, besting the Rams 10-2 in last Saturday's five-inning opener.
“It felt great to finally get out here and play,” starting pitcher Tyler Andersen said. “I just want to play.”
While he thew during his final BHS season in the spring, 2021 graduates Morgan Rump and Kaden Fletcher returned to the Post 154 dugout during the weekend's run-rule victory.
“It feels good again,” Fletcher said. “I've missed it for so long.”
The Bears' bats plated 10 runs against Ralston, while Andersen notched the victory on the mound. He earned a strikeout against the final batter he faced in the fifth inning, finishing with seven Ks overall.
“Tyler was on,” Fletcher said. “He was dealing today and the defense made some plays behind him.”
After two Ralston runs scored in the second inning, Andersen said he settled in.
“I more, like, acclimated to the game,” the pitcher noted. “Started to keep the ball more out of the zone.”
Nate Wachter, meanwhile, plated the Senior Legion season's first run during the first frame. Fletcher then scored Conner O'Neil with a second-inning RBI single before Dylan Swanson tallied his own.
Tanner Jacobson later capped the inning's scoring when he sprinted home off of a swing by Rump.
Ahead 4-2, the Bears' Greyson Kay and O'Neil scored on a Ralston error in the third before Fletcher stepped on the plate due to another Ram miscue.
Jacobson and Rump scored Post 154 runs Nos. 8 and 9 before Swanson knocked in Fletcher for the game-ending score in the fifth frame, capping his 3-for-4 day. Fletcher was pleased with the season-opening victory, but not satisfied entirely.
“Obviously there's things that we can work on, but it'll come with time,” he said.
It took little time, meanwhile, for ETC to earn a five-run lead Tuesday night during its 7-1 win on the Bears' home diamond. The Knights scored five runs during the first frame and two during the fourth, handing Post 154 its first American Legion loss of the summer.
Coach James Bilslend's team scored its only run during the bottom half of the second inning. With Wachter on base, outfielder Ethan Baessler stepped up to the plate and hit an RBI double. It pulled Blair within 5-1 — the closest the game got after the first inning.
The run-scoring at-bat was the first of multiple Baessler highlights. He also singled during the fourth inning and made a diving, seventh-inning catch in foul territory from his spot in right field.
In addition, the Bears' Rump and O'Neil hit doubles during the six-run loss to ETC. O'Neil, Post 154's catcher, had a productive third inning defensively as well. He threw out a Knight attempting to steal second base for the frame's second out before catching a foul pop behind home plate to end the top half.
Blair was scheduled to play at Fort Calhoun on Thursday and next competes 6:30 p.m. today against the Millard Sox Gold. That game is scheduled for Westgate Ball Park in Omaha.
