The Blair Junior Legion baseball team outhit Elkhorn Mount Michael on Saturday in Wahoo to start the B4 Area Tournament.
The Post 154 Bears scored first and led for more innings at Sam Crawford Field, too. They just didn't win.
“We had one too many errors, I think,” pitcher Lucas Matejka said.
The Knights beat coach Howie Brewer's Blair squad 2-1 in an efficient baseball game that didn't even go 90 minutes. Matejka allowed just three hits on the mound, while the Bears notched four of their own.
“I feel like I threw pretty good,” the right-hander said. “One too many hits, obviously, but I threw strikes.”
Post 154's defense helped keep Mount Michael in check as well.
“I let (the Knights) put it in play, too,” Matejka said. “Let our defense make plays for me.”
For four innings, the Bears' efforts were enough for a 1-0 lead. They scored what would be their only run during the first frame when Nelson Kosch singled from the leadoff spot. Jake Gaskill bunted him along the basepath before Matejka hit an RBI double.
Blair threatened another score in the third when Hans Sorensen singled and Carter Saylor reached on an error, but neither scored.
In the fifth inning, Kosch was hit by a pitch and stole second base. It was the Knights who scored on an error during the bottom half, though. A Blair error led directly to the 1-1 tie.
Then, during the sixth frame, Mount Michael added a second run — the winning run — on a sac fly. The leadoff Knight singled and stole second base before advancing to third on a groundout. The subsequent outfield fly, essentially, won the ballgame.
The Bears had three at-bats in an attempt to tie or take a postseason lead in the seventh, but the team from Elkhorn notched the necessary outs to advance. Coach Brewer's team, meanwhile, dropped into a Sunday afternoon elimination game.
“We're on the low side now, but I feel like tomorrow we're going to show up ready,” Matejka said. “I feel like we have a good chance.”
Results from Sunday's play will appear in Friday's Washington County Enterprise edition.
POST 154 JUNIOR LINE SCORE
Saturday
Elkhorn Mount Michael 2, Blair 1
BLAIR (9-14-1) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 1 4 2
EMM 0 0 0 0 1 1 x — 2 3 1
