The Blair Senior Legion baseball team scored three sixth-inning runs, but its Saturday night comeback at Vets Field fell short.
Omaha Central picked up the 4-3 victory, dropping Post 154's season record to 16-10 overall.
The Military Appreciation Night matchup started with both ballplayers and veterans on the basepath. The now annual Fourth of July tradition sees coach James Bilslend's team wear its military-themed uniforms for the occasion with many veterans in attendance.
Once the game began, however, the Eagles earned the one-run victory despite Blair pitcher Lucas Matejka's seven-strikeout performance. Central first scored during the second frame, added a second tally in the fourth and pushed its lead to 4-0 during the fifth inning.
Post 154 responded, though, with Colton Flynn and Jackson Livingston combining to plate three runs during the sixth. Altogether, though, the home team managed just five hits with Carter Saylor, Matejka, Livingston, Owen Mann and Aiden McBreen notching one apiece.
Brock Hamm pitched a scoreless top of the seventh inning, but Blair was unable to plate the tying run during the bottom half to extend the game. It was scheduled to play again Monday, starting the Eastern Nebraska Baseball League Tournament against the Zig Drywall Seniors of Fort Calhoun. Results will appear in Friday's Washington County Enterprise edition.
Mann leads Blair past ETC
Mann allowed one earned run across seven innings July 2 as Post 154 bested ETC Knights Black at Vets Field, 2-1. The right-handed pitcher threw 92 pitches, striking out four batters.
“He really had it all going,” said Blair designated hitter Nathan Murray. “We don't win that game without that pitching performance.”
The Knights scored their only run against Mann during the opening inning, going scoreless from there as Post 154 notched two. McBreen plated the home squad's first run during the bottom of the second inning before Murray pushed across the go-ahead tally in the third.
Flynn touched home plate first before Brevin Leggott scored from third on a sacrifice to give Blair a 2-1 advantage that would stick.
“I just know that, in my first at-bat, I saw a lot of off-speed (pitches) to begin with and I didn't want to have to deal with those,” Murray said of his third-inning plate appearance. “So, I was thinking first-pitch fastball and then I saw it.”
His focus was getting Leggott in.
“Just tried to put it on the ground to the right side because I knew they wouldn't go home with it,” Murray said.
The victory was the Seniors' 16th of the summer season. Murray was 2-for-4 from the batter's box, while Andrew Smutny, Livingston and McBreen also finished with two hits apiece.
POST 154 SENIOR LINE SCORES
Saturday
Omaha Central 4, Blair 3
CENTRAL 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 — 4 5 0
BLAIR (16-10) 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 — 3 5 2
July 2
Blair 2, ETC Knights Black 1
ETC BLACK 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 1
BLAIR (16-9) 0 1 1 0 0 0 X — 2
