The Class C No. 3 Fort Calhoun High School baseball team is 8-3 overall after its past three games.
The Pioneers lost two of three matchups Thursday and Saturday, including its most recent game against Class B No. 5 Omaha Gross. The Cougars won 8-4 Saturday on FCHS' home field, taking a 7-0 lead before coach Roy Prauner's squad scored its first run during the bottom of the fifth inning.
Gross countered with a run of their own during the top of the sixth before three more Calhoun base runners touched home plate during the bottom half.
Down four runs, though, the Pioneers couldn't battle back in the seventh, dropping their second game to a ranked opponent in three days' time. Sam Genoways had two RBIs against the Cougars, while Kenny Wellwood and Chase Bierman had one apiece.
FCHS was scheduled to play at GACC-WPB on Monday in West Point, but is next set to start Nebraska Capitol Conference Tournament on Friday. Matchups and game times were not available as of press time.
FCHS falls to No. 2 team at triangular
Before hosting Gross, the third-ranked Pioneers lost a 9-1 game to Class C No. 2 Central City/Centura during a 1-1 triangular showing at Sam Crawford Field in Wahoo.
Calhoun beat its host — Wahoo/Neumann — in its first game, 10-6, before the eight-run loss to the Kernals. The unbeaten, 7-0 squad held onto a 3-1 lead through four innings, but added to it with a run during the fifth frame and five more in the sixth.
Coach Prauner's team, meanwhile, notched just four hits in defeat. Wellwood had one, a home run, while Bierman had a team-best two hits. Alex Christensen notched a hit against Central City, too.
On the mound, the Genoways struck out three batters in defeat. Both Eric Koterba — who stuck out one batter in one inning — and he allowed Kernal home runs.
Against the Warriors, though, Fort Calhoun scored runs in each of the first six innings, totaling 15 hits. Chase Premer was 3-for-4 with a triple and an RBI during the four-run victory, while Christensen went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Bierman plated a team-best three runners, too, while Sam Genoways (two) and Charlie Boumstein also plated runs.
The Pioneers' Levi Lasher pitched five innings against Wahoo, striking out four batters, while Eli Tinkham threw two innings during the win, too.
FCHS BASEBALL LINE SCORES
Saturday
No. 5 Omaha Gross 8, No. 3 Fort Calhoun 4
OG (9-3) 2 0 0 2 3 1 0 — 8
FCHS (8-3) 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 — 4
Thursday
No. 2 Central City/Centura 9, No. 3 Fort Calhoun 1
FCHS (8-2) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 1 4 3
CCC (7-0) 3 0 0 0 1 5 X — 9 9 0
No. 3 Fort Calhoun 10, Wahoo/Neumann 6
FCHS (8-1) 3 3 1 1 1 1 0 — 10 15 1
WN (4-7) 0 0 3 0 0 3 0 — 6 7 2
