Beatrice powers past Brager

Beatrice's Eagles Juniors baseball team brought out the sticks Thursday night and powered their way past Lincoln J.C. Brager in action at Christenson Field.

The Eagles Juniors defeated their Lincoln counterparts, 14-5, in five innings on the eight-run rule.

“The kids came out and swung the bats really well,” Beatrice coach Ron Cullison said. “They hit the ball hard all night.”

Cullison said almost everybody in Beatrice's lineup hit the ball hard, adding some of the time the ball fell and some of the time it didn't.

“We did a good job swinging the bats,” Cullison said.

Brager is one of the top Junior teams in Lincoln, Cullison said.

“Anytime you can beat a Lincoln team, that's a good effort,” Cullison said.

Cullison said Brager played a 13-inning game Wednesday night and was a little tired Thursday.

“We wanted to get a jump on them early and get up on them,” Cullison said.

Beatrice starting pitcher Justin Coleman struggled at times with is control, but was able to come through for the win.

“We gave up a couple runs we shouldn't have,” Cullison said, “but that's baseball.”

Cullison said Coleman looked good at times, but at other times he had trouble pitching ahead of the hitters.

“He (Coleman) has some good stuff and it will come,” Cullison said. “It's been a while since he's thrown.”

Coleman pitched four complete innings, while James Rivers threw the fifth inning to finish out the game.

After holding Brager scoreless in the top of the first inning, the Beatrice offense went to work with two outs in the bottom of the inning.

Garrett Bruhn started things off with a single for the Eagles Juniors and gave way to courtesy runner A.J. Jarvis.

A single by Rivers advanced Jarvis to second.

Justin Wittler doubled, scoring both Jarvis and Rivers and putting Beatrice up 2-0.

A single by Tommy Luers scored Wittler and Luers took second on the throw home.

Kory Diekman tripled, scoring Luers and making it a 4-0 contest.

A single by Eric Haake scored Diekman and put Beatrice in front 5-0.

Brager scored two runs in the top of the second inning.

In the third inning, Beatrice increased its lead to 9-2.

Luers reached on an error to lead off the inning. He advanced to second on a single by Diekman and took third as a walk to Devin Schroeder loaded the bases.

Coleman singled, scoring Luers.

A fielder's choice off the bat of Mitch Randel erased Coleman at second base, but scored Diekman. Schroeder was also able to score on the play as Brager committed a throwing error.

An infield single by Bruhn moved Randel to second.

Rivers then singled, scoring Randel and putting Beatrice up 9-2.

After Brager scored a pair of runs in the top of the fourth inning, Beatrice answered in the bottom of the inning with five runs.

With one out, Diekman was hit by a pitch, Haake walked and Schroeder was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Coleman then came through with the biggest hit of the game, putting the ball over the right-field fence for a grandslam home run.

Diekman, Haake and Schroeder all scored on Coleman's slam, making it a 13-4 contest.

Bruhn tripled and Jarvis went in to run.

A double by Rivers scored Jarvis and put Beatrice in front 14-4.

Beatrice gave up one run to Brager in the fifth inning before second baseman Randel ended the game by catching a pop fly in shallow right field.

In the game, Beatrice collected 15 hits.

Coleman led the way with his grandslam and two singles, while Bruhn had a triple and two singles and Rivers had a double and two singles.

Diekman finished with a triple and single, Luers had two singles, Wittler had a double and Haake had a single.

Next action for the Beatrice Juniors will be Sunday at Nebraska City.