Beatrice Juniors control Norris

From the second inning on, the Beatrice Eagles/Store Kraft Juniors were able to control the game, and the scoreboard, against the Hickman Norris Juniors in the first-round of B-1 Area tournament play at Auburn Wednesday.

Beatrice scored five runs in the top of the first inning en route to a 13-2 six-inning victory over the Norris Juniors.

“I was very happy with the way we came out and swung the bats,” Beatrice coach Jason Cullison said. “We hit the ball very well, which is something we’ve been focusing on.”

With its win, Beatrice advance to take on Fairbury, a 13-1 first-round winner over Crete, tonight (Thursday) at 7:30 p.m.

In the other winner’s bracket game, Syracuse, a first-round winner over Nebraska City, and Falls City, a first-round winner over Auburn, will face off at 5 p.m.

Nebraska City and Auburn are scheduled to play at noon and Norris will take on Crete at 2:30 p.m. in elimination games.

Cullison said the Beatrice Juniors were “very focused” during their game against Norris and played well overall.

“It was happy with the effort all the way around,” Cullison said. “It was good to see team focused in the first round of districts, because the games just get tougher from here.”

Beatrice took an early lead, scoring five runs in the top of the second inning.

Eric Haake led off with a single and advanced to second as Patrick Bell was hit by a pitch.

A double by Patrick Doyle scored both Haake and Bell.

Doyle took third on a balk and scored on a passed ball.

After walking, John Oltman stole second and scored as A.J. Jarvis reached on an error.

Jarvis advanced all the way to third on the error. Andrew Benson went in to run for Jarvis and scored as Jordan Wallman reached on an error.

Beatrice added one run in the top of the third inning.

Tyler Baxa reached on an error, advanced to second on a single by Doyle and took third on a wild pitch.

A single by Dorn scored Baxa.

Another run crossed the plate for Beatrice in the fourth inning.

Wallman reached on an error, took second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a single by Haake.

A double steal, with Norris making a play on Haake at second, allowed Wallman to score.

In the fifth inning, Beatrice added two runs.

Dorn led off with a double and scored on a double by Oltman.

Oltman advanced to third on a groundout by Jarvis and scored on a groundout by Benson.

Beatrice plated four runs in the sixth inning.

David Gay led off with a single and advanced to third on a double by Doyle.

Both Gay and Doyle scored on a single by Dorn.

Dorn advanced to third as Oltman reached on an error and scored on a groundout by Benson.

A single by Drayton Riekenberg scored Oltman, giving Beatrice a 13-0 lead.

Norris scored its two runs in the bottom of the sixth with a two-out rally.

Ben Kruger started things off for Norris with a walk and advanced to third on a double by Zach Tebo.

A single by Casey Thompson scored Kruger and moved Tebo to third.

Tebo then scored on a single by Ethan Monhollon.

Beatrice finished the game with 12 hits.

Doyle led the way with two doubles and a single, while Dorn had a double and single, Busboom and Haake had two singles each, Oltman had a double and Gay and Riekenberg added a single apiece.

Norris had the double by Tebo and singles by Chris Velander, Thompson and Monhollon.

Jarvis earned the win for Beatrice on the mound with Benson seeing action in relief.

Evan Ehmen took the loss for Norris.

In their win over Crete, the Fairbury Juniors took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning and never looked back.

“We just could never quite put them away,” Fairbury coach Steve Zimmerman said.

Overall, Zimmerman said the Fairbury Juniors played well, but were maybe “a little lax” coming off the high of winning their league tournament last weekend.

Clay Medina reached on an error to lead off the first for Fairbury and scored on a single by Chad Medina and throwing error by Crete.

After back-to-back walks to Pierce Griffin and Jake Bell, Dalton McLain doubled, scoring Chad Medina and Griffin.

Fairbury plated five runs in the fourth inning with two outs.

Clay Medina walked and advanced to second on a single by Chad Medina.

A single by Griffin scored Clay Medina and moved Chad Medina to third.

Bell was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

McLain then hit a grandslam home run, putting Fairbury up 8-0.

Crete scored its lone run in the bottom of the fourth inning on a walk and two singles.

In the fifth inning, Fairbury added two runs to its lead, again with two outs.

Chad Medina walked, stole second and scored as Griffin hit a two-run home run for a 10-1 Fairbury lead.

In the top of the seventh, Fairbury plated three additional runs.

Griffin singled, Bell walked and McLain singled to load the bases.

An error on a ball hit by Jake Sand allowed Griffin to score.

Jake Melcher then doubled, scoring both Bell and McLain and putting Fairbury up 13-1.

McLain led the Fairbury offense with a home run, double and single, while Griffin had a home run and two singles and Chad Medina had three singles.

Melcher had a double and single and Sand added a double.

“As a team, we’re hitting well,” Zimmerman said. “Every guy that goes up, I expect to get a hit.”

Griffin earned the win for Fairbury with Chad Medina seeing action in relief.