Juniors and Seniors Split with Alliance

After a rainy week that cancelled many games, the Post 17 Juniors and Seniors returned to Legion Park on Wednesday, June 7, for a pair of games against the Alliance Spartans. The junior teams played first, with Anderson Smelley taking the mound for the Sidney squad.

After retiring the side in order in the top of the first inning, Landon Riddle got aboard with a single and was able to advance to third after a steal of second and a single by Rhyder Bayne. Patrick McCartney then drove a fly ball to centerfield, and Riddle tagged up to score from third. Bayne was also able to steal third and then score on a Kyle Jaggers single to give Sidney a 2-to-0 lead. Sidney added a run in the bottom of the second inning when Calvin Borgmann singled and then scored from third on a ground out by Connor Hurt.

The Alliance team finally got on the board in the tip of the six inning, when an error by Reid Fiscus at third base led to two Alliance runs scoring. A steal of home then a double scored two more runs for Alliance, giving them a 4-to-3 lead. In the bottom of the sixth, Alliance brought in Ethan Little Foot to pitch, and Sidney scattered a few hits and took advantage of errors to re-take the lead. They then tacked on six more runs to take an 11-to-4 lead. In the top of the seventh, Connor Schumacher gave up a double in relief, but recovered to get the final out when Little Foot struck out to give Sidney the 11-to-4 victory. Landon Riddle and Kyle Jaggers each had two RBIs in the win. Anderson Smelley went four full innings for the win, striking out one batter and giving up only two hits. Bayne and Schumacher combined in relief to seal the win.

Next up, the seniors had their game, and it was a homecoming of sorts for Alliance starting pitcher Micah Schneider. After Sidney starter Reid Fiscus navigated through a single and a walk to retire Alliance in the first inning, Schneider took the mound. The Sidney standout decided to play this season with the Alliance team, and he got off to a quick start with his fastballs keeping the Sidney batters off-balance and struggling to make contact. Two strikeouts and a line out to right field retired Sidney in the first inning. Fiscus looked good on the mound in the second inning, giving up a harmless walk then retiring the side. Again Schneider worked fast, keeping the Sidney batters uncomfortable as they went down in order in the second inning. Fiscus recorded the first out in the third after giving up a single, then gave up a triple and a double to give Alliance a 2-to-0 lead.

The bottom of the third had Sidney finally get a runner on the base paths when Blaine Russell singled off of Schneider. But Schneider recovered and retired the next three batters to keep Sidney scoreless. Fiscus struggled in the fourth inning, giving up back-to-back walks to start the inning, then a double, a single and an error plated three more Alliance runs to give the visitors a 5-to-0 lead. Sidney got two aboard in the bottom of the fourth when Rhyder Bayne doubled and then Kyle Jaggers was hit by a pitch. Schneider was able to strike out Patrick McCartney to turn back the Sidney threat. Ben Hashman came in to pitch for Sidney in the fifth inning, but he was unable to stop the Alliance offense. Walks, errors, two singles and a double combined to plate six more Alliance runs, giving the visitors an 11-to-0 lead at the end of their half of the fifth inning. Schneider left the game and was replaced by Brown, and the Post 17 boys finally got some offense going, stringing together a few singles and a hit by pitch to plate two runs. But that was all the offense the home team had in them that night, and Alliance took the victory by an 11-to-2 final score. Micah Schneider earned the win, going four innings and giving up two hits and no runs with six strike outs. Reid Fiscus was the losing pitcher, going three innings and giving up five runs on five hits with a strikeout. Fiscus and Bayne each had an RBI in the loss.