The Blair Senior Legion baseball team looked forward to the Lewis & Clark Classic in Yankton, S.D.
“We're very excited for it,” pitcher Hans Sorensen said June 4, two days before the start of the tournament. “Just a cool stadium, cool place and we get to play some good teams.”
It took Post 154 away from it's usual schedule.
“Road trips are fun,” Sorensen added.
Altogether, the Seniors went 1-2 in Yankton on Friday and Saturday. They lost their Yankton Pool semifinal 13-5 to Ashland in five innings and are 6-3 overall this season.
Blair looked well on its way to the pool championship earlier, though, taking a 5-0 lead. A six-run top of the third blowup, however, changed the trajectory of the game.
Ashland went ahead 6-5 through three innings and 10-5 through four before ending the game by run-rule in the fifth.
A day earlier, Blair opened Lewis & Clark tournament play with a 1-1 showing against Madison and Fort Calhoun. It lost to the South Dakota team first, 4-3, but beat Zig Drywall for the third time this summer, 4-1.
The tournament-opening loss came by walk-off error during the eighth inning. Post 154 had led 3-2 going into the bottom of the seventh inning, but lost during the lone extra frame.
Lucas Matejka had two RBIs in defeat, while Carter Saylor had one.
Blair pitcher Colton Flynn had 10 strikeouts across 5 1/3 innings, while Aiden McBreen collected four more during the next two.
Matejka next struck out five Fort Calhoun batters, claiming the three-run pitching win in Blair's second tourney game. He threw 92 pitches across six innings and added two hits at the plate.
Brevin Leggott had two hits against Post 348, too, including a triple. He plated three of Post 154's four runs during the bottom of the sixth frame.
Nelson Kosch notched an RBI during the victory, too.
Post 154 earns run-rule victory
Before heading to South Dakota, Post 154 handled the Platte River Rivals from Morse Bluff and Schuyler on June 4 at Vets Field.
The visitors scored the first two runs of the matchup, but gave up 10 straight to lose by run-rule in six innings, 10-2. Sorensen plated the first Blair runs during the bottom of the first frame. His two-run single scored both Owen Mann and McBreen.
“With two strikes, I always like to go up in the box and just try to fight off anything,” Sorensen said of his strategy with a bat in his hands. “Just got a nice outside fastball and went with it.”
Nathan Murray later scored on a passed ball, giving Blair a 3-2 advantage. The home team added to the lead from there with Kosch and Mann touching home plate during the second inning.
McBreen put the ball in play in the fourth frame, too, which led to an error and Kosch scoring.
Then, during the bottom of the fifth inning, Post 154's Colton Nixon hammered a solo home run over the left field wall for a 7-2 advantage. He said he just took advantage of what the Platte River Rivals pitcher gave to him.
“He wasn't really throwing very fast, so you've got to get on top of that,” Nixon said.
Kosch notched an RBI to make it 8-2, too, before Saylor and Murray scored the game-ending runs on wild pitches in the sixth frame.
Sorensen earned the Blair pitching win, striking out four batters across three frames.
“All I wanted to do was throw strikes,” he said.
Saylor, meanwhile, pitched the other three innings, striking out four more Schuyler batters. It was the recently graduated senior's first time throwing from the mound since sophomore year.
“He did really good, actually,” Sorensen said. “I was very surprised and impressed by that.”
POST 154 SENIOR LINE SCORES
Saturday
Ashland 13, Blair 5, 5 inn.
ASH 0 0 6 4 3 — 13
BLAIR (6-3) 2 3 0 0 0 — 5
Friday
Blair 4, Fort Calhoun 1, 6 inn.
FC (4-4) 0 1 0 0 0 0 — 1 5 1
BLAIR (6-2) 0 0 0 0 0 4 — 4 9 1
Madison (S.D.) 4, Blair 3, 8 inn.
BLAIR (5-2) 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 — 3 6 1
MAD 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 — 4 3 2
June 4
Blair 10, Platte River Rivals 2, 6 inn.
PRR 2 0 0 0 0 0 — 2 7 4
BLAIR (5-1) 3 2 0 1 2 2 — 10 5 2
