McCook Seniors knocked out of state tourney by Waverly

Tuesday, August 3, 2004
Tyler Bieck/McCook Daily Gazette McCook National Bank Seniors' catcher Allen Shiers frames a pitch during the American Legion Class B state tournament at Lexington. The MNB Seniors lost to Waverly 3-2 Saturday and were eliminated from the state tournament. The Seniors finished the season with a 27-20 record.

GOTHENBURG -- A lack of offense and good breaks were the determining factors in the McCook National Bank Seniors 3-2 elimination loss to Waverly on Saturday in the Class B American Legion state baseball tournament.

Jason Eder went the distance on the mound for MNB. Eder only allowed three hits and struck out four.

MNB jumped out to an early second inning lead when Jared Muehlenkamp blasted a solo home run.

Tyler Bieck/McCook Daily Gazette McCook National Bank Seniors' Jared Muehlenkamp takes a pitch during Saturday's game against Waverly. Muehlenkamp homered against Waverly, and also hit a round-tripper in McCook's 11-5 loss to Omaha Skutt Friday. He belted seven homers this summer.

Ryan Ball tacked on another run for MNB with a RBI single that scored Sean Cappel and gave MNB a 2-0 lead.

Despite the offensive production in the 2nd, Waverly pitcher Cody Nystrom shut down MNB for the remaining four innings, giving up only one more hit en route to his victory.

Shane Hankins put Waverly on the board in the 4th frame with a solo bomb to cut MNB's lead to 2-1.

Waverly then took over the lead in the sixth inning. Nystrom and Hankins both reached base on close and contested calls at first base, then Derek Hodtwalker brought both runners home with a line drive double to left field.

When the MNB bats fell blank in the seventh, Waverly walked away with its first win of the state baseball tourney.

MNB head coach Justin Wacker wasn't disappointed of his squad.

"Eder pitched good enough to win. Bad breaks here and there. It was a pretty good game," Wacker said. "The guys never quit and that's all you can ask, the effort was there."

After dropping 11-5 decision in the first round to Omaha Skutt and then the Waverly loss, MNB ends its 2004 summer production with a record of 27-20 and an Area 6 championship.

"From the start we knew we were going to be a good team. We knew we had to get to state to be successful. We really geared up, especially in districts. We had a dominating performance in districts," Wacker said.

"We played some great games throughout the summer. I'm sad to see it end so soon, but it's got to end somehow."

MNB meshed well with Wacker and coaches Scott Burns and Brandon Shiers throughout the campaign.

"They really bought into how we wanted to coach them and they played great for us," Wacker said. "They worked hard everyday and you couldn't ask for anything else."

MNB Seniors 020 000 0 -- 2 4 4
Waverly 000 102 x -- 3 3 2

MNB -- Eder. W -- Nystrom. WP -- Nystrom. LP -- Eder. 1B -- Ball, Lorentz, MNB. Nystrom, W. 2B -- Cappel, MNB. Hodtwalker, W. HR -- Muehlenkamp, MNB. Hankins, W.

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