Beatrice remains undefeated

Beatrice's Eagles Juniors are the only remaining undefeated team in the American Legion Juniors Area 1 Tournament after “sliding” by Auburn in a winner's bracket game Sunday.

Beatrice downed Auburn, 2-1, in action at Christenson Field.

In two loser's bracket games Sunday, Hickman Norris defeated Falls City, 2-1, and Nebraska City downed Fairbury, 13-8.

In action Saturday, Beatrice defeated Falls City, 12-0, and Auburn downed Nebraska City, 8-3, in winner's bracket games.

In the only loser's bracket game scheduled for Saturday, Nehawka forfeited to Fairbury.

With its win over Auburn, Beatrice is the only undefeated team in the tournament and will play in championship action Wednesday.

Hickman Norris and Nebraska City will meet in an elimination game tonight (Monday) at 5:30 p.m. with the winner advancing to meet Auburn Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in another elimination contest.

Tuesday's winner will take on Beatrice in championship action Wednesday at 5 p.m. with a second championship game at 7:30 p.m., if necessary.

The Beatrice-Auburn game came down to a couple of fielding errors and a bottom of the seventh-inning play at the plate.

Sam Busboom led off the bottom of the seventh with a basehit up the middle for Beatrice.

A.J. Jarvis went in as a pinch runner for Busboom.

Jarvis put himself into scoring position by stealing second.

Beatrice's second batter, Devin Schroeder, hit a ground ball to the Auburn shortstop, who field the ball and threw to first for the out.

The Auburn first baseman then threw the ball to third, attempting to cut down Jarvis trying to advance.

The ball went by the third baseman, however, and Jarvis headed home.

The ball and Jarvis arrived at home plate and nearly the same time, but the home plate umpire said Jarvis' foot was on the base before the Auburn catcher made the tag.

The run gave Beatrice the 2-1 victory.

“We put A.J. (Jarvis) in,” Beatrice coach Jason Cullison said, “when Sammy (Busboom) got on.”

Cullison said Jarvis is the second-fastest player on the Beatrice team and has been a key baserunner for the team this season.

“We were going to try and bunt him over, but he ended up making it on a steal,” Cullison said.

Cullison said Schroeder was trying to move Jarvis to third when he grounded out to the shortstop.

As the Auburn fielder threw the ball to first to retire Schroeder, Jarvis made a break for third.

“We got lucky,” Cullison said. “Their guy missed the ball and then we were safe at home.”

The Beatrice-Auburn game was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning.

Justin Coleman got things started for the Eagles Juniors with a two-out single.

Mitch Randel walked.

Garrett Bruhn reached on an error, which allowed Coleman to score and put Beatrice up 1-0.

In the top of the seventh, Auburn scored the game-tying run without the benefit of a hit.

Auburn's second batter walked and took second on a balk call.

As the Auburn runner stole third, Beatrice committed a throwing error, allowing him to score the tying run.

That set up the bottom of the seventh drama for the Beatrice offense.

Cullison said Beatrice played a good ball game defensively and had a great pitching performance from Justin Wittler.

Wittler threw the complete-game win for Beatrice, while D.J. Shallenberger took the loss for Auburn. He was the third Auburn pitcher to see action on the mound.

The Beatrice hitters struggled with Auburn's pitching during the game.

Busboom had the only multi-hit game for Beatrice, hitting a pair of singles.

Cullison said it was “awesome” to see Busboom come up with the big hit, which ended up leading to the victory.

“He (Busboom) struggled earlier on, but he came up in a clutch situation and got it done,” Cullison said. “I'm proud of him.”

Adding a basehit each were Coleman, James Rivers, Kory Diekman and Schroeder.

Auburn had just two hits the game, a double by Shallenberger and a single by Zach Wittman.

Against Falls City Saturday, Beatrice opened the game's scoring with a three-run first inning.

Coleman reached on an error to lead off.

With Ryan Poling in to run for Coleman, Devin Schroeder singled, putting runners at first and second.

A double by Garrett Bruhn scored Poling and moved Schroeder to third.

James Rivers grounded out, scoring Schroeder.

A groundout by Justin Wittler scored Bruhn and put Beatrice up 3-0.

Beatrice scored four runs in the third inning.

Schroeder was hit by a pitch to start the inning and stole second.

A single by Bruhn scored Schroeder.

Bruhn, who went to second on the throw in, took third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch.

River walked, went to second on a passed ball and took third on a wild pitch.

Justin Wittler and Tommy Luers both walked to load the bases.

A sacrifice fly by Kory Diekman scored Rivers.

Eric Haake walked to reload the bases and Coleman walked, scoring Wittler and putting Beatrice up 7-0.

Beatrice finished out the game's scoring in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Bruhn walked and A.J. Jarvis went in to run.

Jarvis stole second and third and scored on a groundout by Rivers.

Wittler doubled and stole third.

Luers walked and Diekman was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

A single by Mitch Randel scored both Wittler and Luers.

Diekman took third and Randel second on the throw to the plate.

A double by Eric Haake scored both Diekman and Randel and put Beatrice up 12-0.

Coleman threw the complete-game win for Beatrice.

Hitting for the Eagles Juniors were Bruhn with a double and single, Haake and Wittler with a double each and Schroeder, Diekman and Randel with a single each.

Hickman Norris 2

Falls City 1

Down 1-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning Sunday, the Hickman Norris Juniors plated two runs and held on for the win.

Chad Johnson led off with a walk and stole second and third.

A double by Tim Onwiler scored Johnson, tying the game at 1-all.

Darin Cheney came through with a one-out single for Norris, which scored Onwiler and gave his team a 2-1 lead.

“We finally got some hits,” Norris coach Monte Zysset said. “We had some timely hits and got some runs.”

Zysset said Norris coaches talked to their players about keeping their weight back and driving the ball prior to their last at-bat.

“We just changed some little things and did the little things and it worked out,” Zysset said.

Nate Hoover earned the win for Norris on the mound with Mason Niemeyer taking the loss for Falls City.

Zysset said both pitchers did a good job for their respective teams.

Norris had four hits in the game, the double by Onwiler and a single each by Johnson, Cheney and Jared Zysset.

Falls City also had four hits, a double and single by Niemeyer and a single each by Jake Babb and A.J. McAfee.

Nebraska City 13

Fairbury 8

Nebraska City had to rally to down Fairbury in an elimination game Sunday, 13-8.

Fairbury jumped out to a lead early, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning.

Nebraska City scored three in the top of the second to take the lead, but Fairbury tied the game in the bottom of the inning with a single run.

In the third inning, Fairbury regained the lead, scoring one run and going up 4-3.

Nebraska City scored three runs in the top of the fourth, but Fairbury answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning.

After four complete, Fairbury led 8-6.

Nebraska City finished out the game's scoring with one run in the fifth inning, three in the sixth and three in the seventh.

Even with the loss, Fairbury coach Steve Zimmerman said he couldn't be “prouder” of his team.

“These kids played the No. 1-seeded team and had them on the ropes,” Zimmerman said. “If we could have just got a couple breaks...

“We played a good team and we gave it a good effort.”

Zimmerman said Fairbury's team has played from the start of the season on with just nine players.

“They've proved to me they can play ball,” Zimmerman said.

Logan Ehlers earned the win for Nebraska City, while Jordan Ahl took the loss for Fairbury.

Ahl led Fairbury's offense with a triple and single, while Jake Sand and Steven Davis each had a double and single and Pierce Griffin added a single.

Nebraska City collected nine hits and was led by Ehlers with a triple and single, Greg Dennisten with a double and single and Brian Vock with two singles. Adding a single each for Nebraska City were Kevin Rademacher, Sam Sullivan and Travis Peterson.

Saturday

Auburn 8

Nebraska City 3

Damond Wennihan earned the win Saturday as Auburn defeated Nebraska City 8-3 in winner's bracket action.

John Russell took the loss for Nebraska City.

Auburn finished with just six hits in the game.

D.J. Shallenberger led Auburn with three singles, while Austin Emshoff and Josh Graver had a double each and Grant Cole added a single.

Hitting for Nebraska City in the game were Sam Sullivan with a double and two singles, Logan Ehlers with a double and single, Kevin Rademacher with two singles and Travis Peterson and D.J. Duvall with a single each.