Juniors get passed down homestretch

By BRETT BURTON

Gazette Writer

The McCook First Central Bank American Legion Juniors baseball team dropped a 9-4 decision to the Holdrege Juniors at the Jaycees Sports Complex Thursday night.

The FCB Juniors led the game 2-0 through five innings of play, and then Holdrege kicked it in.

Holdrege scored nine runs in the remaining innings while FCB could only tack on two more.

Lance Korte and Sam Frazier shared pitching duties for the Juniors.

"Lance threw excellent last night, and when Sam comes in he usually comes in and mows people down. Last night, it just seemed like Holdrege stuck their bats out and let Sam hit it," head coach Steve Cochran said.

The defense played a strong game in the first few innings, but started to play conservative in the later innings.

"It seemed like we were almost being too careful. At some points, we were not being aggressive and just letting the ball fall in front of us," Cochran said.

At the plate, both teams had eight hits. The majority of McCook's hits came in the earlier innings while Holdrege compiled theirs in the later innings, during the two-inning rally.

"Holdrege hit the ball very well last night," Cochran said.

On the base paths, FCB was tagged out a couple of times trying to take one more base.

"We were just being aggressive on the bases, and I think we were just a little too aggressive at the end of the game," Cochran said.

The Juniors (6-8) will host Kearney tonight for a double header with Kearney's B team at 5:30 and 8 p.m.