Exmark Seniors down Crete in B1 Area Tournament
The Seventh-seeded Beatrice Exmark Legion Seniors defeated second-seeded Crete 12-9 Friday night in the first round of the B1 Area Tournament.
With the win, Beatrice advances in the winners bracket and will play third-seeded Syracuse at 4 p.m. Saturday at Christensen Field in Beatrice.
Crete falls into an elimination game with Fairbury at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Christensen Field.
Crete scored first in the bottom of the first inning after a single, a sacrifice bunt and an RBI double, making it 1-0. Wallman was able to escape the inning without any more damage being done.
Beatrice was able to tie the game in the top of the third. With one out, Zach Hoffman was hit by a pitch and went to second on Kole Jurgens’ single. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch and Sean Pinkerton’s RBI single made it 1-1.
Beatrice still had the bases loaded with one out, but were unable to score any more runs.
Beatrice would score three more runs in the fifth inning, though, to take a 4-1 lead.
Kole Jurgens got the rally started with a double and Pinkerton’s RBI single made it 2-1. After an out was recorded, Zack Zimmerman was hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second.
A passed ball moved the runners up to second and third, but then the second out was recorded.
A two out, two RBI single by Keenan Ruh extended Beatrice’s lead to 4-1.
Crete got right back into the game in the bottom of the fifth. After an out was recorded, a single and two walks loaded the bases and a double cleared them, tying the game at 4-4.
A walk, a balk and a ground out allowed another run to score and an RBI single made it 6-4 after five innings.
Beatrice came right back with five runs in the sixth inning. Qwin Zabokrtsky got things started with a walk and Caleb Wallman then doubled. A walk to Hoffman loaded the bases and a sacrifice fly by Kole Jurgens made it 6-5.
Pinkerton’s RBI single tied the game at 6-6. Another single loaded the bases and Zack Zimmerman’s RBI single gave Beatrice a 7-6 lead.
Chase Woltemath’s sacrifice scored another run and Keenan Ruh’s sacrifice fly made it 9-6.
Crete came back with one run in the bottom of the sixth to make it 9-7 entering the final inning.
Beatrice got three big insurance runs in the top of the seventh. Caleb Wallman got things started with a single and Hoffman’s single put runners at first and third.
Jurgens’ sacrifice fly scored a run and a walk to Pinkerton and a single by Peyton Murphy loaded the bases.
Walks to Zimmerman and Woltemath scored two more runs to make it 12-7 entering the final half inning.
Crete got its first two runners on base in the bottom of the seventh, but a double play put a damper on their comeback hopes. They did manage to score two runs after that to make it 12-9, but a ground out would end the game.
Wallman pitched 4.2 innings, giving up six earned run on six hits while striking out five and walking four. Qwin Zabokrtsky pitched 2.1 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on four hits while striking out two and walking two.
Pinkerton led the offense with three hits, three runs scored and three RBI’s.