The Fort Calhoun Senior Legion baseball team started the summer season 6-2, but lost its ninth game in a row Thursday against Omaha Concordia.
The 12-4 loss dropped the Pioneers' season record to 6-11.
“We started out kind of beating a lot of good teams and I think we may have gotten in our head a little too much,” outfielder Harrison Schmitt said. “For some reason we can't seem to get out of it.”
The Senior Legion player continued.
“We still think and know we can beat these teams, but we can't seem to prove it,” he said.
Post 348 finally did demonstrate its skill level Friday against West Point, though. The Pioneers improved to 7-11 with a 4-0 victory on their home diamond.
“The team really came together as a group today and everyone did their job,” assistant coach Jamie Warner said. “I feel like that's something we've really been struggling with the past couple weeks.”
Calhoun overcame its struggles against West Point with pitchers Jake Seina and Tanner Jacobson combining for seven scoreless innings. Their defense had their backs, too.
“We've been asking the kids to step up and make plays in the field that they're capable of making, and they did that tonight,” Warner said.
Seina allowed just two hits over five innings. He struck out six batters before Jacobson stepped in and secured six outs without allowing a hit.
Offensively, the Pioneers Justin Myer and Zach Faucher notched two hits apiece.
A day earlier against Concordia, Schmitt started his Calhoun squad off strong during the second inning with an RBI triple. Dillon Dierks added his own RBI and the Pioneers ground out a 3-0 lead through two innings.
Even after the Mustangs pulled even with a three-run fourth frame, Post 348 responded with another go-ahead run. Seina reached base with a two-out single before Tylan Conner doubled him home across home plate.
From there, though, the Pioneers struggled to log outs. Concordia evened the score, 4-4, during the top of the fifth inning before scoring two runs in the sixth and six more during the seventh. Errors were a source of Fort Calhoun angst during that final Mustang half inning.
In their last effort to come from behind to win, Myer and Austin Welchert singled in the bottom of the seventh before Schmitt was hit by a pitch to load the bases. A popout ended the threat just a batter later, though.
Now, the Pioneers have one final regular season game scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight at Omaha Roncalli. From there, the seven-game winners play in the Class B Area 3 Tournament in West Point on Friday.
Calhoun's first round opponent is Waterloo-Valley. The game is tentatively scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.
“I'm going to play with some of my favorite people,” Schmitt said, looking forward to postseason play.
Blair games canceled
The Blair Seniors were scheduled for a Friday night doubleheader at Beatrice — the spring, high school state champs — but the games were canceled due to field conditions. Rain caused the Beatrice diamond to be too wet to play on.
The Bears (11-21overall as of Saturday) were then scheduled to play their final regular season game Monday against Arlington before the Area 3 Tournament begins Friday in West Point. They are unofficially set to play Elkhorn Mount Michael at 7:30 p.m.
Arlington scrimmages at Pender
The Arlington Senior Legion baseball team traveled to Pender on Thursday for an exhibition game, its second in recent weeks.
The Eagles have scheduled such contests in recent weeks to work around the Junior Legion team's postseason efforts and still get live work on a field. The Post 71 Seniors are preparing for their own Class B Area 3 Tournament opener on Friday against Albion in West Point. Game time is unofficially set for 2:30 p.m. as of press time.
