Post 17 Juniors Fall to McCook in Junior Regional Tournament

MCCOOK--The Sidney boys of summer were hot coming into the Junior Regional Tournament with a big win over the Ogallala Adams Insurance Advisors team on Tuesday, July 9, but stumbled in the first round of the Regionals on Saturday, July 13, with a 4-to-2 loss against the Peltz Company Junior Spartans. In a game dominated by pitching, the Peltz team was able to grab a lead in the top of the seventh inning and hold on for the win.

In the top of the second inning, a grounder got past shortstop Kyle Jaggers and the Spartans took a 1-to-0 lead. Rhyder Bayne was able to retire the last two batters to minimize the damage. Sidney again went down in order in the second inning.

The game remained 1-to-0 in favor of the Spartans until the bottom of the fourth inning when Conner Hurt reached base on an error, before Conner Schumacher drove a single to right field to give Sidney runners on the corners. Anderson Smelley walked to load the bases, followed by a Rhys Dorcey single to drive in two runs. Sidney lead 2-to-1 after four innings.

In the top of the fifth, another error by Jaggers led to a baserunner who advanced to third base, and then scored on a ground out to tie the game at 2-to-2. Sidney got two runners on in the bottom half of the inning but could not bring any runners home. The Spartans went down in order in the top of the sixth, and Sidney was able to get a runner on via hit by pitch, but could not get him home. Sidney put two runners on to start the bottom of the sixth, but after a sacrifice bunt by Dorcey moved the runners to second and third, a strikeout and a ground out ended the inning.

Bayne started the top of the seventh and gave up a single before striking out the second batter for the first out. Another single ended Bayne's night on the mound, and he was relieved by Cole Raffleson. Raffleson was able to strike out his first batter, to get the second out, but a walk, followed by two hit batters, gave the Spartans two runs, and a 4-to-2 advantage going into the bottom of the seventh. Sidney got a runner on when Jaggers walked, but could not bring him around and fell by a final score of 4-to-2.

Rhyder Bayne went 6.1 innings, giving up just four hits and two earned runs while striking out four and walking three. The Spartan's pitching did an excellent job, scattering just five hits in the game, and inducing 10 strikeouts in the victory.

Sidney had the opportunity to win their next game and advance and faced the Gothenburg Melons Junior Post 64 squad on Sunday, July 14. Gothenburg took an early lead when Sidney's Kyle Jaggers gave up a lead-off single that came around and scored on an error. Sidney struck back in the bottom of the third when the first two batters reached base via walk and Rhyder Bayne blasted a triple to left field which brought home two runs. Bayne then scored on a groundout by Smelley to give the Sidney squad a 3-to-1 lead. The Melons played small ball in the top of the fourth, scoring two runs on a combination of two singles, two walks, a sacrifice bunt, and a fielder's choice to tie the game at 3-to-3.

In the bottom of the fifth, Sidney took the lead for good, when Connor Schumacher started the inning with a triple to right field. Bayne then walked to put runners on the corners, before Andersen Smelley flew out to centerfield, allowing Schumacher to tag up at third and come home to give Sidney the lead. Rhys Dorcey followed with a sharp single up the middle, scoring Bayne. Zech Roggasch singled to move Schumacher over to second base, before Sam Hulbert was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Will Gillham drove a single to left field, scoring Dorcey, but Roggasch was thrown out trying to advance to third. Kyle Jaggers fouled out to end the inning, but Sidney had put up three runs, more than enough to take the win. After retiring the Melons in the top of the sixth, the Sidney squad tacked on three more runs in the next inning, highlighted by a solo home run by Bayne and a two-run dinger by Dorcey. Sidney came away with a 9-to-3 win. Rhys Dorcey had four hits including a home run and drove in four runs. Rhyder Bayne had two hits including a home run and drove in three runs. Kyle Jaggers went 6.1 innings on the mound, giving up eight hits and three earned runs. He struck out seven and walked three in the victory.

The win advanced Sidney to the next round on Monday night where they lost a heartbreaker to McCook FCB Juniors team. Sidney opened an early lead in the top of the first, cashing in a run on a Rhyder Bayne RBI single. After Bayne advanced to third, Rhys Dorcey singled and drove him home to give Sidney a 2-to-0 lead at the end of the first inning. Conner Hurt took the mound for Sidney and retired the side in order at the bottom of the first. Both teams struggled in the following innings to score, with each getting baserunners on, but not able to get them across home plate. In the bottom of the fifth, the McCook team started off with a walk, and after an out, a single and a fielder's choice put runners on second and third with one out. A fly out to center field brought in a run, narrowing Sidney's lead to 2-to-1.

Sidney got the run back in the top of the sixth when Sam Hulbert reached base on an error and then advanced to second base. He was bunted over to third base by Will Gillham, and scored from third on a ground out by Conner Hurt, giving Sidney a 3-to-1 advantage. Sidney shut down McCook in the bottom of the sixth but was retired in order in the top of the seventh. McCook came up in the bottom of the seventh and started with a single and a walk. Conner Schumacher came in to pitch and gave up back-to-back walks, plating a McCook run. He then induced a fly-out and ground out, and it looked like Sidney had a good chance to hang on for the win. Unfortunately he gave up a single that scored two runs, and the Post 17 boys fell by a final score of 4-to-3. Conner Hurt went 6 innings on the mound, giving up seven hits and three earned runs. He struck out four and walked five. Rhyder Bayne had two hits and an RBI in the loss.