The Blair Junior Legion baseball team didn't win Friday at Vets Field, but it did break out of a scoreless funk.
“We broke an impressively bad streak if you want to call it that,” Post 154 coach Howie Brewer said after a 12-4, five-inning loss to Millard Sox Black. “It was nice to seem them put some balls in play.”
After back-to-back 8-0 losses to Omaha Roncalli and Hickman on June 6-7, the Bears fell behind Millard 8-0, too. Then, though, they scored.
Wyatt Fletcher crossed home plate after Aiden McBreen made contact reached first base safe on an errant Sox throw during Friday's fourth inning. The run broke a streak of 24-straight scores by Blair's opposition.
Millard responded with four more runs in the fifth inning, but Post 154 rallied again. Colton Flynn hit a one-out single to start before Max Rump and Cam Wilkins loaded bases behind him in the lineup.
Fletcher sacrificed an out for a run next before McBreen hit into another Sox miscue for two more runs. His infield bouncer pulled the Bears within 12-4.
Needing one more run to save itself from another run-rule loss, however, Blair popped out next to end the game.
“What we saw tonight is pretty much spot on with what we've seen the last few games,” Brewer said. “We're shooting ourselves in the foot early. We're getting into too big of holes and we just can't climb back.”
The next day, the Bears lost a 7-1 game at Omaha Central. They were behind 3-0 when McBreen plated Peyton Briggs on a double to right field.
Still, Blair lost by six runs, dropping to 4-8 overall.
“We just have to find a way to turn it on from the get-go and show up at the park ready to play ball,” Brewer had said Friday.
If Post 154 does, he thinks his Bears can get stronger as the season goes on.
“We have the talent on this team to compete at a much higher level than we are right now,” the coach noted.
Seniors start 1-1 in South Dakota
The Blair Senior Legion baseball team, meanwhile, was 9-1 overall through Saturday's play at the Lewis & Clark Classic in Yankton, S.D. They began the three-day tournament 1-1 through 48 hours.
To start, the Bears dropped a rain-delayed game to Yankton on Friday for their first loss of the season. The home team scored first and then broke a 1-1 tie during the fifth inning, leading from there.
Lee Chavez-Lara threw 5 1/3 innings for Post 154, striking out five batters, while also going 2-for-3 at the plate. His teammate, Brady Brown, notched Blair's lone RBI, while Greyson Kay, Tanner Jacobson and Conner O'Neil also added a hit each in defeat.
Next, coach James Bilslend's team routed Sturgis, S.D., 21-7, on Saturday. Post 154 fell behind 7-2 through two innings, but scored 19 runs across the next three during the five-inning, run-rule victory.
The Bears produced a tourney-best 11 runs during the top of the fifth. Kay and Nate Wachter highlighted the inning with run-scoring, extra-base hits.
Post 154 started play against Nemaha of Lincoln later Saturday, but the game halted by more weather in the area. Trailing 4-2, Blair was scheduled to finished the game Sunday. Results will appear in next Friday's Washington County Enterprise.
Before their road trip north, however, the Bears went south to Hickman on June 7. They picked up their eighth win of the season there, 4-0.
Led by Dylan Swanson and Blaine Rosenbaum on the pitching mound, Post 154 played even, 0-0 baseball until scoring a run during the fifth frame and three more during the sixth inning. Elijah Morgan and Kay notched two hits apiece, while Wachter had two RBIs and Brown, Rosenbaum, Lee Chavez-Lara and Bo Nielsen scored runs.
POST 154 SENIOR LINE SCORES
Saturday
Blair 21, Sturgis 7
BLAIR (9-1) 2 0 4 4 11 — 21
STURGIS 4 3 0 0 0 — 7
Friday
Yankton 6, Blair 1
BLAIR (8-1) 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 — 1 6 4
YANKTON 0 1 0 0 2 3 X — 6 9 0
June 7
Blair 4, Hickman 0
BLAIR (8-0) 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 — 4
HICKMAN 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0
