Menu
First Central Bank ends losing streak with 17-7 win
McCOOK, Neb. -- McCook First Central Bank juniors coach Chris Conroy fought for his team, then his players did the rest.
Following Conroy’s second-inning exchange with the home plate umpire, First Central Bank blew open a close affair to defeat Hershland 17-7 Tuesday night at the Jaycees Complex.
With the win, First Central Bank improved to 10-9 on the season and broke a four-game losing streak. That included a winless weekend at Hastings where First Central Bank was outscored 40-10 in tournament play.
“I told the guys right after the game that we definitely needed this one,” Conroy said about Tuesday’s win. “It was a long tournament for us in Hastings, going 0-4. So we needed to see a team we could handle. At the same time, they could have snuck up on us.”
Hershland opened Tuesday’s contest by taking a 2-0 lead in the first half of the first frame. That lead, however, was shortly lived as First Central Bank fought back to establish a 4-2 lead in their half of the inning.
Morgan Fawver scored on a wild pitch to open the scoring before a James Mockry rbi double evened the game at 2-2. Two batters later, Logan Barenberg hit a clutch two-rbi single to make it 4-2 in favor of the hosts.
The visitors clawed back to within 4-3 in the second before First Central Bank added four more runs to make it 7-3. Joel Carter, Dawson Bredvick and Fawver all scored on wild pitches, with Fawver and Bredvick both scoring on the same errant throw.
Poor throwing hurt both teams Tuesday night, as seven of the game’s 24 runs resulted from poor throwing.
“That’s hard to overcome, especially when it’s something little like a release point where an inch can make a big difference on where that ball goes,” Conroy observed.
Conroy added that a similar issue led to most of First Central Bank’s troubles in Hastings less than a week ago.
“That’s what kinda hurt us this last weekend. We threw a lot of walks and that hurts any team, doesn’t matter how good you are.”
The turning point of Tuesday night’s game, however, occurred in First Central Bank’s half of the second inning.
Ahead 5-3, Seth Dugger slid into home base but was ruled out by the head umpire. Conroy approached the plate to voice his displeasure before walking away moments later.
First Central Bank scored 12 of the next 15 runs.
“That was a turning point for us,” Conroy noted. “We got a little fired up and that’s what you need sometimes. That’s the big thing, you can take those close calls and you can let them get down on you or you work with them and take them as fuel to keep going. They took it and started piling it on.”
First Central Bank’s big inning came in the third, when six runs crossed home plate.
Carter and Dugger both hit rbi singles, followed by Barenberg scoring on a wild pitch and Fawver hitting a sacrifice fly. Walter Fitzsimmons batted in two more runs giving First Central Bank a 13-5 lead.
Fitzsimmons brought in another runner in the fourth inning before Coady Armstrong stole home on a wild pitch to make it 15-6.
Luke Roberts capped First Central Bank’s scoring with a two-rbi hit to make it 17-6.
Hershland managed one run in the fifth inning, but it wasn’t enough to stave off the 10-run rule.
Fitzsimmons led First Central Bank with three runners batted in on two hits.
As a team, First Central Bank managed 13 hits and benefitted from six Hershland errors.
Not be lost in the offensive fireworks was First Central Bank starting pitcher Jordan Chauncey’s performance. The First Central Bank starter went three innings, allowing five runs and striking out six.
First Central Bank travels to Lexington for a doubleheader Wednesday (tonight).
“As long as I’ve played them they’ve showed up and been ready to go,” Conroy said about Lexington. “They have a pretty solid lefty. We saw a solid lefty against Ogallala and he shut us down, so we gotta be dialed in and ready to go if he throws against us.”
After Tuesday’s performance, Conroy is looking forward to building on the momentum they lost over the weekend in Hastings.
“I think this one got us refocused and that’s what we need. I think we’ll be okay coming into those games (Wednesday). We’ll have a couple guys ready to go again, with Seth Dugger and Kaleb Gillen back from their mandatory relief. So I think we’ll be in a good spot starting pitching-wise, and then we’ll be okay out of the bullpen too.”