Juniors nip Chadron; seniors fall

CHADRON, Neb. – Though not at their best defensively, the Sidney American Legion teams managed a split of a junior-senior double header in two close games at Chadron on Wednesday night.

While keeping their cards close to the vest, the Sidney juniors used a committee of pitchers to edge the Chadron Nationals 6-5 just two days before the two teams will enter the district tournament at Gering's Oregon Trail Park. Sidney managed to eek out its victory against the top-seeded district team despite committing seven errors. Sidney finished the regular season with a 12-9 record.

In the nightcap, the seniors dropped an 11-9 decision after allowing a 9-4, fourth-inning lead slip away while committing six fielding errors. The seniors still have two doubleheaders (vs. Buckley and Laramie, Wyo.) left on their regular-season schedule before opening districts in Sidney on July 24. The seniors record now stands at 12-14.

Byron Rowley, Zach Holtz, Jackson Witt and Logan Sircy combined to pitch the juniors to victory. Witt wound up as the pitcher of record on the winning side as he hurled two innings of scoreless relief. In all, the Sidney pitching quartet gave up just three hits.

"Our coaches have been telling us we need to stop making mental mistakes and start stringing hits together," said Brett Jaggers, who had four hits in the twinbill with three RBIs. "We managed to string a few hits together, but we've got to play better as a team. Do it for the boys."

Sidney pounded out 10 hits in the juniors game with Zack Means leading the way with three. Means also had a trio of RBIs. Besides Jaggers, shortstop Connor Langrell also had a pair hits with a gap double and an RBI. Keaton Wakefield made his mark early as he led off the contest with a double to right-center field and later scored the first run.

While Legion coach Ray Witt had decided before the game to pitch by committee, he handed the ball to his ace for the seniors game.

Though not at his best as he surrendered 10 runs, only five were earned. Burton fanned five hitters and walked four. Ben Goble came on with two outs in the fifth and finished the game. He allowed two hits over 1 1/3 innings and gave up an unearned run in the sixth.

"It was a little frustration, but it wasn't all on the defense," Burton said. "I also had a lot of walks and if I could have cleaned that up it would have been a much better game for us.

"Late in the game, I started getting behind hitters. We should have won that game. Too many walks and too many errors though. It was just too sloppy a game for us to expect to win," Burton added.

The seniors' offense was most effective in the fourth inning when they sent 12 hitters to the plate. Sidney quickly loaded the bases after Jaggers opened with a single, Jason Hagerman was hit by a pitch and Mitch Rolls legged out an infield hit.

From there nine consecutive batters came up with the bases loaded. Wakefield, Bradey Holtz, Langrell, Means, Arik Doty and Jaggers all picked up an RBI in the inning to give Sidney a short-lived 9-4 advantage.

While the juniors have largely rested their pitching staff over the past two games, they take to the field in greater earnest beginning on Friday at districts. In round one, fourth-seeded Sidney will take on No. 3 Alliance at 4 p.m. in Gering.

The seniors take the weekend off before two road doubleheaders next week. First up is Buckley in Chappell on Wednesday with game one set for 5 p.m. On Thursday, the road takes Sidney to Laramie, Wyo., with the opener there also scheduled for 5 p.m.

WEDNESDAY'S BOXES

Juniors

Sidney 6, Chadron 5

Sidney 101 022 0 – 6 10 7

Chadron 103 001 0 – 5 3 1

Sidney: Byron Rowley, Zach Holtz (3), Jackson Witt (4), Logan Sircy (6) and Garrett Langrell. Chadron: Trevon Waldron, Clayton Varhenkamp (6), G. McCallon (7) and Xavier Goings.

2B: Keaton Wakefield (S), Connor Langrell (S).

Seniors

Chadron 11, Sidney 9

Sidney 030 600 0 – 9 7 6

Chadron 310 331 x – 11 9 4

Sidney: Kyle Burton, Ben Goble (5) and Bradey Holtz. Chadron: Colby Ellis and Jayden Stack.

2B: Justin Bargen (C).