Legion teams swept on road vs. McCook

MCCOOK, Neb. – With the outcomes of both games each largely influenced by a single sloppy inning, the road back from McCook must have seemed long and frustrating for the Sidney American Legion teams on Monday night as they dropped both ends of a junior-senior doubleheader.

The juniors were within a run (4-3) before they were foiled by a four-run fourth inning on their way to a 9-3 defeat. Meanwhile, the seniors allowed six to cross the plate in the third as they were undone 8-0 in five innings. With the losses, the juniors record slipped to 9-7 on the season, while the seniors stand at 7-10.

"With as many games as we've played last week, we're pretty much out of pitching," said head coach Ray Witt. "We should have about half of our pitchers back by Wednesday for the games at Hershland."

Zack Means started the juniors game and took the loss. Zach Holtz came on in the third and was relieved by Logan Sircy in the fifth inning. Sircy pitched 1 2/3 of hitless relief to finish the game. Offensively, Sidney managed just six hits while committing five errors. Means picked up two of the hits and had an RBI, while Sircy, Byron Rowley, Garrett Langrell and Mitch Rolls had the others.

The seniors struggled with their bats from the start as they managed just five scattered hits and were unable to take advantage of three McCook errors. Starting pitcher Kyle Burton sailed through the first two innings before McCook broke the game open in the third inning with the benefit of three Sidney errors, two hits and three walks.

"We'd give up a few hits and a few walks and that would be compounded by untimely errors," said Witt. "That's how they put a six spot on us when could have limited that to a run or two."

Means carried his hot bat from the juniors contest into his first at-bat in the seniors game. Though the cleanup hitter doubled in the first, Post 17's bats were largely silent – especially with runners on base. Sidney went 1-for-10 with a hit batter and a walk with runners on base.

"I think we're always improving, but we seem to get undone by one inning," said Jason Hagerman, who reached base twice in the seniors game. "It's mostly mental errors and I think that's just part of us being such a young team. There are only six of us who are seniors (players) and most of the guys are double roster players. This is just one game. We still believe in ourselves 100 percent."

After their busy schedule of late, Witt will rest his team on Tuesday before traveling to district opponent Hershland on Wednesday. The juniors will start the action at 5 p.m. CDT with the seniors to follow at about 7:30.

MONDAY'S BOXSCORES

Juniors

McCook 9, Sidney 3

Sidney 101 100 0 – 3 6 5

McCook 112 401 x – 9 9 2

Sidney: Zack Means, Zach Holtz (3), Logan Sircy (6) and Garrett Langrell, Arik Doty (6). McCook: C. Stevens and K. Taylor.

2B: C. Stevens (M), J. Barenberg 2 (M).

Seniors

McCook 8, Sidney 0

Sidney 000 000 – 0 3 5

McCook 006 11x – 8 4 3

Sidney: Kyle Burton, Ben Goble (3) and Bradey Holtz. McCook: Battery unavailable.

2B: Zack Means (S).