It was hot and the Blair Senior Legion baseball team needed to regroup Friday after its first Dave Van Metre Tournament game at Brown Park in Omaha.
“Honestly, the bugaboo that we've had is a couple of walks at the wrong time,” Post 154 coach James Bilslend said after the 6-5 loss to Lincoln Northwest. “They get a couple of walks, and then they get a hit, and for some reason it leads to a crooked number in runs.”
After a short break, Blair went right into a game with Gretna East Black.
“We just need to be playing good, consistent baseball and try to limit the walks,” Bilslend said.
Post 154, ultimately, got off to a 1-2 start in Van Metre Tourney play. It answered the Northwest loss with a 4-3 win against the Griffins.
Then, on Saturday, Bilslend's team lost 12-4 to the Hastings 5 Points Chiefs. It fell behind the Chiefs quickly, allowing 10 first-inning runs.
Blair then scored two runs each during the third and fifth innings, but the offensive output wasn't near enough to continue the game beyond the fifth inning.
Post 154 was outhit by Gretna East in Friday's one-run win, too. Nelson Kosch — who had a double, a triple and a walk — Nathan Murray and Colton Flynn notched all four Blair hits, while East tallied nine total in defeat.
Carter Saylor, Murray and Josh Keogh notched RBIs, though, leading their team in tournament play.
On the mound, Post 154's Lucas Matejka allowed a home run, but just two runs total in six innings of pitching. He struck out six batters before Owen Mann stepped up in relief with two.
The tournament started, however, with the aforementioned one-run loss to Northwest. Post 154 built a 3-0 first-inning lead and led 4-2 through four after Brevin Leggott's RBI double.
The team from Lincoln evened the score at 4-all, but Blair again took the lead during the sixth inning when Kosch's infield single allowed Leggott to slide across home plate safe.
An RBI single into left field and a bases-loaded walk during the top of the seventh-inning, however, decided the game in Northwest's favor, 6-5.
All-in-all, Coach Bilslend focused on baseball during the first two days of the South Omaha tournament. He also, however, had to watch out for his players' safety during a hot weekend at Brown Park.
“We had a meeting where, if you're not feeling good, have a headache or any of those classic symptoms of heat exhaustion or heat illness, we're going to sit you down and rest,” the coach said after the first game of the event. “Been telling them to push the fluids. Then, after that, we'll just make a lineup and roll with it and see what we can do.”
Blair's tournament run continued Sunday afternoon. Results will appear in Friday's edition of the Washington County Enterprise.
Blair falls to Beatrice
Prior to the start of tournament play, the Blair Seniors hosted Beatrice on June 18, losing 12-5. The visitors produced a six-run fourth-inning and scored the last four runs of the ballgame to win.
Leggott and Kosch led Post 154 offensively in defeat, combining for four hits and two RBIs. Matejka and Saylor both plated runs, too, while pitchers Brock Hamm and Hans Sorensen combined for eight strikeouts.
POST 154 SENIOR LINE SCORES
Saturday
Hastings 5 Points Chief 12, Blair 4, 5 inn.
BLAIR (11-7) 0 0 2 0 2 — 4
HASTINGS 10 0 2 0 X — 12
Friday
Blair 4, Gretna East 3
GE 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 — 3 9 2
BLAIR (11-6) 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 — 4 4 4
Lincoln Northwest 6, Blair 5
LNW 0 0 0 2 2 0 2 — 6 11 0
BLAIR (10-6) 3 0 0 1 0 1 0 — 5 11 1
June 18
Beatrice 12, Blair 5
BEAT 0 1 1 6 3 0 1 — 12 15 5
BLAIR (10-5) 1 0 1 3 0 0 0 — 5 7 1
