Sidney Bats Explode, Buckley Defense Falters in 12-2 Rout to end regular season

If Murphy's Law went against the Sidney Post 17 senior team last Thursday night in Gering, it certainly played in its favor Wednesday night against Buckley in Chappell.

Sidney won its 22nd game of the summer by a five-inning run rule score of 12-2. Behind the steady arm of starter Travis Garska and a horde of Sidney hits, combined with a sloppy defensive game by Buckley-headlined by five errors, three wild pitches and two balks-Sidney had its way all evening.

Despite a huge early cushion for Garska and his offense most of the night, Sidney manager Mark Onstott took a disciplined approach to the rest of the game.

"One of the things we continue to preach is that it's a 0-0 ball game," said Onstott. "Every at-bat, work on making good swings, work on the mechanics, don't get lazy out there. You've got to play every inning, every pitch like it's the last one you're ever going to play."

Sidney leadoff man Bradey Holtz was the first player to take that advice to heart.

Just as he did on Tuesday night, Holtz kick started Sidney's offense. With Buckley's Caleb Andersen on the mound, Holtz, running hard,reached first on an error to begin the game. Andersen's quick pickoff attempt to first resulted in a balk that advanced Holtz to second.

With one out in the inning catcher Colton Onstott hit a high fly ball to right fielder Nathan Miles. Holtz tagged up and went to third on the play, but scored after Miles' throw to third was mishandled by the third baseman Brennan Mayden.

Sidney grabbed an early 1-0 advantage on Holtz' aware base running.

In the bottom of the first, Garska allowed just one hit-a single by leadoff hitter Taylor Mayden-but put away the next three Buckley hitters without any trouble to preserve the 1-0 Sidney lead.

Second baseman Jaden Sears started off the top of the second with a line shot single down the third baseline. Garska followed with a fielder's choice groundout-Sears was forced out at second with Garska making it safely to first.

Sophomore Ben Goble came in for Garska as a courtesy runner and advanced to second on a snap throw to first by Buckley catcher Gunner Kroeger that was off line.

The next Sidney batter, Kyle Burton, flew out to shallow center. But then first baseman Skyler Arent was able to drive in Goble on a lined single to right field, giving Sidney a 2-0 lead.

The third and fourth innings were two of Sidney's best at the plate this summer.

Sidney sent nine men to the plate in each inning and ultimately broke the game open with nine runs on 10 hits combined in the third and fourth frames.

With one out in the third, center fielder Austin Pile singled to left to begin another Sidney barrage. With Onstott at the plate, Pile got an excellent jump and stole second easily.

Onstott hit an infield single deep in the hole to third baseman Mayden, moving Pile to third. Onstott stole second himself and then Sears ripped a two-RBI double to left center scoring both runners.

After Garska reached on another error at third, Burton smoked a double of his own all the way to the left field wall. Sears scored from second and Garska, who was running on the hit, came in all the way from first.

Arent then followed with his second RBI single of the night-again to right field-scoring Burton. A five-run inning jolted Sidney out to a commanding 7-0 lead after three innings.

Every Sidney hitter appeared to be right at home at the plate, especially Arent.

"I was just looking to hit the ball," Arent said. "For me personally those guys just had a good arm slot to pitch out of. I could just see the ball well. The lights out in center were right in our eyes but we were able to see the ball."

And it was more of the same in the fourth. Holtz led off with an infield pop up double that evaded the reach of first baseman Cordell Hensley. Pile reached first on Mayden's third error of the night, with Holtz making it to third.

Clearly struggling and looking to be running out of gas, Andersen was relieved by Mayden with no outs in the top of the fourth and a 3-0 count to Onstott.

And it was more trouble immediately for Buckley.

Mayden' very first offeringwas a wild pith that scored Holtz. Pile moved to third and was driven in by Onstott's RBI double to left. Once again, Goble came into the game as a courtesy runner-this time for Onstott.

On Buckley's second balk of the evening, Goble took third base and then he himself scored on another wild pitch, as Sidney took a 10-0 lead.

With the bases empty and one out in Sidney's half of the fourth, Sears connected for his third hit of the night with another single. A third wild pitch in the inning moved Sears to second. After another single by Garska there were runners on the corners with one away for Burton, who with his second double, knocked in Sears for Sidney's 11th run.

After a four-run fourth, Garska did his part to piece together a shut down inning, striking out the side of Buckley's order in the bottom half.

Leading 11-0 in the fifth, Holtz once again reached base on an infield single. Pile followed with a walk and then Onstott hit a fielder's choice groundout that eliminated Pile at second but moved Holtz to third. Right fielder Scott Phillips was next and he hit an RBI groundout to first base that scored Holtz for the third time.

"You always have to run everything out," said Holtz on his three-run night. "The leadoff guy needs to be aggressive for the two and three hole hitters."

Garska, trying to hold onto his one-hit outing, unraveled a bit in the bottom of the fifth. He surrendered a leadoff double to Andersen-just the second hit of the night for Buckley.

With one away, speedy Reece Coffin lined an RBI triple to straightaway center that scored Andersen and ended Sidney's shutout. Channing Dunkar brought home Coffin on a double that took a funny hop in left field just in front of Wakefield.

Suddenly the Sidney lead was cut to 10 and a sixth inning looked possible. But Garska fanned Miles for the second out and got Kroegerto groundout to Sears to end the game.

"Every at-bat counts," Garska said, when asked how he stays focused with such a big lead early in the game. "I let off a little bit there at the end. They saw it out of the hand and started reading the slider a little better."

Garska finished with a complete game over five innings, allowing a pair of runs on four hits. Displaying excellent command, he fanned nine Buckley batters and walked none.

The Sidney seniors geta first round bye in districts and will play the winner of the Alliance-Chadron game, taking place on Saturday, July 19.