The Blair Junior Legion baseball team's season record dropped to 0-2 Tuesday at Vets Field.
“We have a very young team this year,” coach AJ Bilslend said. “A lot of growing to do, and they've just got to keep playing together. Keep playing tough.”
He made his comments after the Post 154 Bears lost a 13-0, five-inning game to the Elkhorn Training Camp (ETC) Knights.
Bilslend's youthful lineup started its season May 27 against Ashland, however. Blair fell 5-3 despite eight strikeouts by pitcher Lee Chavez-Lara. Hayden Berg and Peyton Briggs supplied RBI swings, too.
Against Elkhorn Training Camp — a Mount Michael ballclub — Chavez-Lara also supplied the Bears' last scoring opportunity. With his team already down the final 13-0 margin, he singled before stealing both second and third base.
Post 154 was unable to score, though. The same could be said for the Knights after they scored all of their runs before scoreless fourth and fifth innings.
“Trying to get them an at-bat each,” Bilslend said of his substitution strategy through the latter frames. “Just putting people in different spots and seeing if something could spark something different.”
The moves didn't lead to a comeback, but they did provide a young lineup some experience.
“We've got to make some improvements in the field,” Bilslend said of his season-long goals for the Juniors. “We've got to make some improvements as a team as a whole and we've got to start putting the ball in play.”
Blair notched just three hits in five innings against the Knights. It is set to play tournament games through Sunday on ETC's home diamond at Mount Michael. The Bears were scheduled to start tourney play Thursday against the Arbor Bank Skyhawks and are expected to face a Lincoln East squad today.
