Beatrice takes care of business

Taking nothing for granted Friday in the first round of the American Legion Juniors Area 1 Tournament at Christenson Field, the Beatrice Eagles Juniors went to work early.

Beatrice, the second seed in the tournament, defeated Nehawka, 22-0, in five innings.

In other action, Falls City defeated Fairbury, 15-2, and Auburn downed Hickman Norris, 4-1.

Nebraska City, the tournament's top seed, received a first-round bye.

With their win, the Eagles Juniors advance to take on Falls City Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in one of two winner's bracket games.

In the other winner's bracket contest, Nebraska City will face Auburn at 5 p.m.

In a loser's bracket game, Fairbury will take on Nehawka at 2:30 p.m.

Beatrice coach Jason Cullison said the Eagles Juniors came out and played with intensity and focus.

“Pitching was solid and we just made one error on a tough play,” Cullison said. “Overall, it was a great defensive performance.”

Cullison said Beatrice all took care of business offensively.

“We had good discipline at the plate,” Cullison said. “Usually, it's tough for us to hit slower pitchers, but tonight we did all right.”

Beatrice's players were able to string some hits together at different times during the game, Cullison said.

Beatrice opened the game's scoring with a two-out rally in the bottom of the first inning.

Garrett Bruhn got things started by getting hit by a pitch. He stole second and third.

James Rivers walked and stole second, putting two runners in scoring position.

A single by Justin Wittler scored Bruhn and moved Rivers to third.

Wittler stole second and advanced on a passed ball, which scored Rivers.

Wittler also scored on a passed ball, making it a 3-0 game.

Sam Busboom singled, stole second and took third on a passed ball.

A single by Kory Diekman scored Busboom.

In to run for Diekman, A.J. Jarvis stole second and scored on a double by Eric Haake, giving Beatrice a 5-0 lead.

The Eagles Juniors added six runs in the second inning.

Bruhn led off with a one-out double, but was caught stealing third

Rivers walked and Wittler was hit by a pitch, putting two runners on base.

A double by Busboom scored both Rivers and Wittler, giving Beatrice a 7-0 lead.

Diekman singled, advancing Busboom to third, and Haake reached on an error, which scored both Busboom and Diekman.

A single by Devin Schroeder scored Haake for a 10-0 lead by the locals.

Schroeder took second as Nehawka made a play at the plate on Haake and Ryan Poling, in to run for Schroeder, scored on a single by Justin Coleman.

Beatrice scored four runs in the third inning.

Bruhn led off with a single and took second on a passed ball.

After Rivers walked, Wittler reached on a passed ball, which erased Bruhn at third base.

A double by Tommy Luers scored both Rivers and Wittler and put Beatrice up 13-0.

Luers scored on a Diekman single.

Jarvis, running for Diekman, took second on a passed ball and scored as Seth Ray reached on an error.

After three complete innings, Beatrice led 15-0.

Beatrice plated seven more runs in the bottom of the fourth.

Jarvis and Bruhn were hit by pitches to lead off the inning.

Poling singled, loading the bases.

A walk to Andrew Waege scored Jarvis and kept the bases loaded.

Luers reached on a fielder's choice, which scored Bruhn and Poling and put Beatrice up 18-0.

Eric Hackler walked to reload the bases.

A single by Haake scored Waege.

Schroeder was issued a bases-loaded walk, forcing home Luers, and Chase Spilker walked, scoring Hackler.

Jarvis reached on a fielder's choice as Schroeder was retired at third and Haake scored, putting Beatrice up 22-0.

Diekman threw the win for Beatrice.

In three innings of work, Diekman shut out Nehawka while allowing two hits and two hit batters. He struck out two and walked none.

Eric Haake finished out the game for the Eagles Juniors, throwing the final two innings.

Beatrice had 15 hits in the game.

Diekman led the way with three singles, while Bruhn, Busboom and Haake had a double and single each and Schroeder had two singles.

Luers added a double and Coleman, Wittler and Poling had a single each.

Falls City 15

Fairbury 2

Fairbury jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the fist inning, but couldn't hold on as Falls City took a 15-2 first-round victory.

Walks and errors hurt the Fairbury squad, according to coach Steve Zimmerman.

“Falls City isn't the third seed for no reason,” Zimmerman said. “They're a very good team. Their discipline out on the field showed.”

Steven Davis singled to start things for Fairbury in the first inning and advanced as Luke Woods was hit by a pitch.

Both Fairbury runners scored on a double by Pierce Griffin.

Falls City scored one run in the second inning, three in the third, five in the fourth and six in the seventh to earn the win.

Trent Scheitzl earned the win for Falls City with Dalton McLain taking the loss for Fairbury.

Also seeing action on the mound for Fairbury were Griffin, Davis and Jake Sand.

McLain led the offense for Fairbury with a double and two singles, while Griffin had a double and singles, Davis had two singes and Woods had a single.

Auburn 4

Hickman Norris 1

Auburn took a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning and held on for a 4-1 victory over Hickman Norris in first-round action.

Grant Cole pitched the win for Auburn, while Darin Cheney took the loss for Norris.

Blake Price also saw action on the mound for Norris.

Norris scored it's only run in the sixth inning.

Timothy Onwiler walked, advanced as Spencer Evans reached on an error and scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of Cheney.

Norris finished with three hits in the game - a single each by Cheney, Casey Gruber and Joshua Hall.