FCB Juniors 2nd at Holdrege

Monday, June 11, 2007

McCook Legion

squad improves

record to 7-4

HOLDREGE -- The McCook First Central Bank Juniors American Legion baseball A team placed second at the Holdrege Tournament this weekend with a 4-1 record.

The Juniors improved to 7-4 overall.

"Well, we participated in the Holdrege tournament this past weekend and had a great weekend," said McCook coach Lirin Yost.

"On Friday we played Grand Insland Five Points in our opener where Mike Grabowski took the mound for us. Our hitting was about average, but we just couldn't get hits when we needed them and left a good number of guys on base. We ended up losing that game 12-5.

"In our second game on Friday, we faced Kearney County which is Minden. Jeff Lorentz pitched the majority of that game and our bats were working alot better then.

"Several guys went 2 for 3, while Shane Wallen hit his first grand slam home run which led us to a 16-1 victory. That game helped boost the guys confidence and played good ball the rest of the weekend.

"In Game 3, Adam Kruger took the mound and pitched a good game and once again our bats were working for us. Several guys went 2 for 3 again, Brady Chancellor went 3 for 3 and Austin Larson went 4 for 4 with 3 singles and a double and we won that game 12-1 against Cozad.

"In our first game on Sunday, we faced off against Kearney 5 Points, whose coach was Jeff Holthus, a former McCookite.

"This game was a very interesting game as we were up 3-0 going into the 5th inning, when we seemed to start struggling and they scored 5 runs on us, taking the lead 5-3, but we battled back and tied it up again 5-5 going into the last inning.

"In the top of the 7th, they were up on us 9-5 but the guys didn't give up and when we came to bat in the bottom of the 7th, things started shifting our way.

"With a walk and a couple hits, we were down 9-6 with runners on 2nd and 3rd when Cody Broomfield stepped in and a drove a ball over the left field wall tying things all up and still no outs.

"Then Nick Kenny led off with a single, then stole 2nd, which brought Dillon Goltl to the plate, who had already had a single and a home run in the game.

"He roped a drive into left center which went to the fence and Nick came around a scored the winning run for us and Dillon had a double.

"This was a very exciting game, knowing that we were down by four runs going into the last inning and the guys battled back to win the game 10-9.

"In that game Cody Broomfield, Mike Grabowski and Dillon Goltl all had home runs for us and Austin Larson threw a great game to help keep us in it.

"In our final game of the tournament, we matched up with Holdrege who we had seen a week earlier. We started Matt Thayer on the mound, who had some trouble early on and so we brought in Cody Broomfield in relief.

"This game was tied up 5-5 going into the 4th when we were able to grab a couple runs and take the lead 8-6 and then in the sixth inning we started swinging the bats and using smart base running to score another 10 runs and secure the final victory 18-7.

"We ended up placing second in the tournament behind Grand Island Five Points who went undefeated for the tournament.

"The guys really had a great weekend knowing that they could come back after a opening game loss and coming back in the last inning against a tough team and I think all in all, the guys had a fun weekend and look forward to our other tournaments and seeing the guys learn from this one."

McCook hosts Holdrege Thursday and Gothenburg Friday (both games start at 5:30 p.m.).

A doubleheader at North Platte Tuesday was canceled because several players are participating in the University of Nebraska-Kearney football camp.

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