With a wall of storm clouds rolling into Washington County from beyond the outfield fence Monday night, the Fort Calhoun Senior Legion baseball team closed out an Eastern Nebraska Baseball League (ENBL) Tournament victory at Vets Field in Blair.
Zig Drywall pitcher JT Mlnarik relieved starter Declyn Otte during the bottom of the eighth inning, striking out the last Post 154 batter he faced for an 8-5, first-round win. While Blair would go onto a game against Springfield on Tuesday, Post 348 earned a semifinals matchup with top-seeded Waverly — a game it would lose, 5-1.
First, though, Fort Calhoun and Blair met in a first-rounder coach Jerry Wellwood said came with higher stakes than their previous meetings this summer.
No. 1, it was a league tournament game.
No. 2, it was played at the site of both teams' upcoming Class B Area Tournament.
And, No. 3, Zig Drywall entered the matchup without a win in three tries against coach James Bilslend's Post 154 lineup.
“There's a lot of stuff that built toward this being a little bit spicier than normal,” Wellwood said. “I'm just glad our guys answered the bell.”
The matchup went back-and-forth after Calhoun's Jordan Back tied it at 3-3 with a top-of-the-fifth-inning two-RBI single. Post 348 later secured a 5-3 lead during the sixth, too, when AJ Duros hit a blooper into shallow right field.
That advantage wasn't meant to last, though, as Blair responded with two runs of its own during the bottom half. Both Carter Saylor and Owen Mann reached base before Aiden McBreen laid down a bunt to get them to second and third, respectively.
From there, Colton Nixon lightly hit a liner into left field for Post 154, evening the score again, but at 5-all this time. The score stuck, too, after a scoreless seventh frame.
Notably, during extra innings, Legion baseball teams get a free runner at second base to start things.
“The guy at second, nobody out, is a key situation for us,” Coach Wellwood explained. “We execute that, and we should, at a 90-plus percent clip and we did.”
Charlie Boumstein started at second for Calhoun on Monday, moving to third base as Chase Premer and AJ Duros both reached. Then, after a popout, Sam Genoways put the ball in play for the lead.
Boumstein scored first before Lasher's slide attempt dislodged the ball from Blair catcher Lucas Matejka's glove and Matejka from the game due to injury.
Zig Drywall's Alex Christensen hit into an error next, pushing the visiting team's lead to 8-5.
“We just put pressure on them,” Wellwood said. “We got fortunate with a couple of good bunts, a couple of good base running plays, and everything worked out.”
It worked out for Mlnarik on the mound during the bottom half, too, even with Post 154's Hudson Hamm on second base to start. Though the reliever closed the game out, Wellwood credited Otte — who had six strikeouts — for another strong start.
“This is, like, his third outing in a row he got it going,” Wellwood said. “And when he does, he's tough as nails.”
Fort Calhoun's march toward the ENBL title game, however, ended Tuesday when it fell at Waverly. The teams combined for four first-inning runs as the top-seeded home squad earned a four-run victory through seven frames.
Genoways, Mlnarik, Boumstein and Christensen all had hits in the game for Zig Drywall (15-13 overall), but it wasn't enough to earn Post 348's way into the league final.
Blair falls to Springfield
Blair, meanwhile, suffered its second Senior Legion home defeat of the week Tuesday.
Springfield outhit Post 154 10-3 and won, 8-1, at Vets Field. The loss dropped the home squad's record to 16-11 overall.
Nelson Kosch, Nathan Murray and Mann had Blair hits in the game with Mann notching his team's only RBI. Hans Sorensen and Colton Flynn stole two bases apiece, too.
Post 154 was schedule to host South Omaha on Thursday and next plays a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday in Columbus.
SENIOR LEGION LINE SCORES
Tuesday
Waverly 5, Fort Calhoun 1
FC (15-13) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 1
WAVERLY 3 0 1 0 0 1 X — 5
Springfield 8, Blair 1
SPRING 0 3 4 0 0 1 0 — 8 10 5
BLAIR (16-11) 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 — 1 3 5
Monday
Fort Calhoun 8, Blair 5, 8 inn.
FC (15-12) 0 1 0 0 2 2 0 3 — 8 7 4
BLAIR (16-10) 0 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 — 5 6 4
