Blair Seniors snap 7-game skid, win 2-of-3

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The Blair Senior Legion baseball team snapped its seven-game losing streak last Wednesday, scoring just one less run in seven innings than it had during the entire slump.
TJ Swaney homered as the Post 154 Bears beat Papillion-La Vista South on the road, 9-8. The victory improved the team's record to 6-16 before a weekend road trip to a South Omaha tournament.
“Over a very successful Papio South team, 19-5 I think they were,” Blair coach James Bilslend said of the victory. “We came out and played a very good game.”
The Titans scored three seventh-inning runs, but fell one shy of sending Blair's sixth win of the season into extra innings. Tyler Andersen picked up the pitching victory, striking out five over 6 1/3 innings. Bo Nielsen tallied the last two outs, striking out one.
Swaney finished with four RBIs to lead the Bears' offensive output, while Nolan Osterhaus, Conner O'Neil and Matt Burns logged one apiece. Osterhaus and Swaney scored twice, too, as Post 154 logged seven total hits — three less than Papio South.
Then, on Saturday, Blair traveled to Brown Park for two Dave Van Metre Tourney games in Omaha. It lost a 5-1 first game to the Omaha Spikes before a 5-3 win over Elkhorn in the second.
After win No. 6, the four-run loss to the Spikes was a bit deflating. Players appeared frustrated, tossing aside bats and helmets with their struggles to score runs. Nielsen took the loss on the mound despite six strikeouts in four innings.
“Bo's first three innings were excellent. Defense was good,” Bilslend said. “And we were hitting the ball. All game we hit the ball hard.”
But run production didn't come against the Spikes. The Bears even struggled during the third frame when they did score. Andersen hit a leadoff double, but was thrown out at third base when he and his coach tried to stretch it into a triple.
Osterhaus notched a single next, but was thrown out when he tried to take second on an Omaha error.
Fortunately for Post 154, Nielsen and O'Neil rallied with a single and a triple to give the Bears a 1-0 lead. That's when the Spikes answered, though, scoring all five of their runs during the bottom half, effectively earning the tourney victory.
With a smile, assistant coach AJ Bilslend tried to lift the Bears' spirits in the dugout after. Positive results followed as Blair earned a lead against the Antlers and snatched win No. 7.
“We just keep reassuring them that if you keep hitting the ball hard, it's going to fall,” Bilslend said before the win. It happened, too, as the Bears outhit Elkhorn 13-5.
Osterhaus led Post 154 with three hits, while O'Neil, Swaney and Canton Lippincott notched two apiece. Osterhaus, Nielsen, Kaden Fletcher, Dylan Swanson and Lippincott pushed across runs.
Swaney earned the complete-game pitching victory.
Though Blair is just 7-17, James Bilslend believes his team has the potential to make a postseason run.
“I can see it,” he said Saturday. “Even AJ has commented that he's starting to see a fork in the road where we can take it and go a different direction.”
The Dave Van Metre Tournament continued Sunday at Brown Park. Results will appear in Friday's Washington County Enterprise.

Juniors start tourney with defeat
The Blair Junior Legion baseball team opened a Papillion-La Vista South tournament Friday with a 12-3 loss. The next day, fields were unplayable, delaying their second to Sunday.
The Bears' first round, nine-run loss to the Bellevue West Reserves came despite RBIs by Kaden Sears and Hayden Berg. Hunter Travis, Nathan Wachter and Ethan Baessler notched doubles, too.
Before the Papillion trip, though, the Bears split two games in a Wednesday night doubleheader at Vets Field. They beat Waterloo-Valley 11-2 in the opener before losing the second 8-0.
Greyson Kay struck out 10 batter in the Post 154 win, while Lee Chavez-Lara notched five RBIs on two hits. Ethan Baessler, meanwhile, notched a pair of hits to lead Blair in defeat during game No. 2.

Blair Legion Baseball