Tournament competition presented the Blair High School baseball team with an opportunity to play in Omaha and Papillion on Friday and Saturday.
The Bears faced Class B No. 1 Omaha Skutt first at Omaha Westview before a matchup with Class A Bellevue East at Werner Park, the home of the Omaha Storm Chasers.
“It's fun that they allow us to do this,” said BHS coach John Roan after Saturday's game at the minor league ballpark.
Unfortunately for his squad, both Skutt and Bellevue East were victorious. The opposition outscored the Bears (3-10 overall) by a combined total of 29-3 across just 10 innings of play.
“Baseball is a hard sport,” Roan said, recapping the post-tournament message to his team. “Sometimes it just doesn't go our way. Sometimes you don't get the breaks, and sometimes you ride highs and others not.”
Bellevue East scored eight first-inning runs against Blair and won, 15-2, in five frames. The Chieftains scored three of their first eight runs on a bases-loaded walk, a bases-loaded hit batsmen and an error, but also logged a pair of two-run hits and a sacrifice.
The Bears tried to battle back with two runs during the top of the second frame, but, ultimately, left three runners stranded. Andrew Smutny and Owen Mann singled during the early stages of the inning before Thomas Chikos was hit by a pitch.
Outfielder Carter Saylor stepped up to the plate next, sending a two-RBI single into right centerfield. It pulled BHS within 8-2, but with still two outs to work with.
Brevin Leggott and Nathan Murray later walked, setting up a bases-loaded situation again, but the inning ended on a groundout shortly thereafter.
East scored five more runs during the bottom half of the second frame next, all but putting the game away with still 2.5 innings required before the mercy rule came into effect.
Saylor, Leggott and Nelson Kosch reached base during the fourth and Colton Nixon and Thomas Chikos occupied bags in the fifth, but Blair handily lost its 10th game of the spring. As Roan said, the Werner Park matchup didn't go the Bears way, but he still hoped it was a memorable afternoon on professionally manicured grass for his team.
“These are experience that these guys should cherish and love,” the coach said.
A day earlier, against top-ranked Skutt, Blair scored one run during the fifth frame of a 14-1, run-rule loss at Westview. The Skyhawks, meanwhile, dominated early, scoring all 14 of their runs during the first three frames.
Leggott, Murray and Saylor notched BHS hits with Murray supplying his team's lone RBI. Jackson Livingston scored the Bears run against Skutt in tourney play.
Colton Flynn, Hudson Hamm and Andrew Korth all pitched for the Bears in defeat as the Skyhawks hit two homers and collected eight hits and 12 free bases.
BHS was scheduled to open another tournament — the Eastern Midlands Conference Tourney — Monday at Elkhorn. Bracket play continues throughout the week with the championship game set for Friday.
No. 8 Ralston tops Bears
Lucas Matejka plated Murray during the first inning Thursday, but the Blair baseball team lost at No. 8 Ralston, 8-1. It was its first of three losses in three days.
The host Rams scored three times during the second and fourth innings before producing their winning margin with two runs during the sixth frame. BHS, meanwhile, finished with four hits altogether. Matejka, Nixon, Smutny and Mann had one apiece for the Bears.
Defensively, pitcher Finn Soderberg struck out four batters across 4 2/3 innings in defeat. Cam Wilkins struck out one in 1/3 innings of relief, too.
Blair dominates North
The Bears' run of four games in four days, however, started April 9 against Omaha North at Vets Field.
The home team dominated, scoring 11 runs across the first two innings and winning 11-1 in five frames. Leggott plated the run that eventually ended the game by run-rule, sending an RBI double into the outfield to score a sliding Livingston.
Leggott, however, was just one of seven Blair batters to log an RBI against the Vikings. Nixon had two, while Murray, Kosch, Smutny, Chikos, Korth and he had one apiece. Kosch, Leggott and Nixon all doubled during the game, too.
Hans Sorensen, meanwhile, earned the pitching win. He struck out three batters across five innings.
BHS BASEBALL LINE SCORES
Saturday
Bellevue East 15, Blair 2, 5 inn.
BHS (3-10) 0 2 0 0 0 — 2 4 3
BE (8-7) 8 5 0 2 X — 15 11 1
Friday
No. 1 Omaha Skutt 14, Blair 1, 5 inn.
BHS (3-9) 0 0 0 0 1 — 1 3 5
OS (12-2) 3 6 5 0 X — 14 8 0
Thursday
No. 8 Ralston 8, Blair 1
BHS (3-8) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 1 4 2
RHS (9-3) 0 3 0 3 0 2 X — 8 9 3
April 9
Blair 11, Omaha North 1, 5 inn.
ON (7-5) 1 0 0 0 0 — 1 6 2
BHS (3-7) 3 8 0 0 X — 11 6 1
