Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable..
Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable.
Johnson Imperial Homes’ Naz Robinson tags second base for an out against Lincoln Southeast’s Nolan Schmate in their first game Tuesday night at Duncan Field.
Johnson Imperial Homes center fielder Landon Hinrichs runs down a hit by Lincoln Southeast’s Sawyer Bokowski Tuesday night at Duncan Field.
Johnson Imperial Homes’ Carlos Espino hits a single against Lincoln Southeast in their first game Tuesday night at Duncan Field.
Johnson Imperial Homes’ Jacob Reichstein pitches against Lincoln Southeast in their second game Tuesday night at Duncan Field.
Johnson Imperial Homes’ Braxton Wiles bats against Lincoln Southeast in their second game Tuesday night at Duncan Field.
Johnson Imperial Homes’ Naz Robinson tags second base for an out against Lincoln Southeast’s Nolan Schmate in their first game Tuesday night at Duncan Field.
Johnson Imperial Homes center fielder Landon Hinrichs runs down a hit by Lincoln Southeast’s Sawyer Bokowski Tuesday night at Duncan Field.
Johnson Imperial Homes’ Carlos Espino hits a single against Lincoln Southeast in their first game Tuesday night at Duncan Field.
Johnson Imperial Homes’ Jacob Reichstein pitches against Lincoln Southeast in their second game Tuesday night at Duncan Field.
Johnson Imperial Homes’ Braxton Wiles bats against Lincoln Southeast in their second game Tuesday night at Duncan Field.
Hastings Johnson Imperial Homes has won three games in a row twice this season and that's accounted for 60% of its wins this summer.
In other words, it's been very three-steps-forward, two-steps-backward for the Braves, who followed their second three-game win streak with a pair of losses to Lincoln Southeast Tuesday night at Duncan Field.
Their most common opponent this summer, Southeast (14-4) maintained an unbeaten record in four tries against the Braves (10-11), who were idle for five days.
The team from Lincoln has won by scores, in order, of: 6-4, 9-1, 7-1 and 6-4. The latter two were Tuesday's final margins.
"It's competitive," said JIH coach Nate Story. "They're one of the top teams out east and it's good to have a competition like that, but just trying to get over that hump against a good team has kind of been our struggle this year."
Part of that is Hastings getting in its own way with costly defensive mistakes, which gave Southeast its early edge in both of Tuesday's ballgames.
In game one, JIH survived two first-inning errors thanks to a double play, but in game two, the Braves weren't so fortunate.
A fly ball that hit the heel of Landon Hinrichs' glove in centerfield gave Sawyer Bokowski extra bases. A ground out pushed him to third and a sacrifice fly by Cash Buettenback made it 1-0.
Another Braves error in the third inning of the nightcap led to two Southeast runs.
"We've got to take a challenge when a team comes in with some talent and make sure we can play with them and not give them a game," Story said.
In both games, the mounting mistakes were plenty for Southeast to ride to victory.
LSE's pitching staff in game one, led by switch-pitching ambidextrous starter Jackson Volop, held the Braves to just three hits.
The Braves only struck out once, but also only drew one walk in seven innings.
Game two was too little, too late for the home team. Chipping away at a 6-0 deficit with two runs in each the fifth and sixth, and failing to score a runner from third with one out in the seventh, were recipe for a Braves loss.
"We had three days off and I think that showed, not being able to see live pitching and stuff," Story said. "We fell behind with the sticks and didn't have a good approach.
"We had our chances. We grounded into a couple double plays today and didn't advance runners when we needed to. I think you could just tell we'd been away from live at-bats for a few days."
Ironically, the only run JIH manufactured in the opener came via double play ball. Braxton Wiles reached on a Southeast error, Naz Robinson was hit by a pitch and Carlos Jimenez walked.
Brady Hamburger grounded into a 6-4-3, but Wiles scored on the play.
The Braves rode a couple Southeast errors in their comeback effort in the nightcap.
Robinson's two-out single in the fifth plated Jackson Sughroue. After a walk, Joe Hoffman scored Robinson to make it 6-2.
Bailey Shoemaker's ground out in the sixth produced two runs with two outs when the throw from third skipped past the first baseman. But the 6-4 Southeast cushion held a frame later.
JIH will continue to flirt with a .500 record when it travels east on Wednesday to play the Sutton seniors. First pitch is at 7:30 p.m.
W — Jackson Volop. L — Nolan Hyde.
2B — LSE, Gage Frederick, Colton Horn.
W — Nolan Schmate. L — Jacob Reichstein.
3B — LSE<, Ryan Johnson.
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