First inning impacts two games for FCB Juniors

NORTH PLATTE -- The tone of the baseball game is usually set in the first few innings of the game.

North Platte sent that message to the First Central Bank American Legion Juniors immediately.

The North Platte Juniors scored 11 runs in the first inning of Game 1 and 14 in the first inning of Game 2 and defeated McCook 15-1 and 18-6.

"We had a rough night. I don't know if we were shocked to be playing a Class A team or what. Our pitchers were not getting up in the count, we were walking batters, and not making the plays in the field," Juniors coach Steve Cochran said.

Dillon Goltl was on the mound in the opener. He threw nearly 60 pitches in the first inning, before Asher Brooks spelled Goltl for the remainder of the game.

Brooks cooled down North Platte's hot bats and only gave up four runs during his tenure.

"We figured we would throw our younger guys against North Platte. Then our older guys would be ready to go against district opponent Holdrege on Thursday night," Cochran said.

In game two, North Platte had 11 hits to McCook's eight in the 18-6 defeat.

"They only had three more hits than we did in the second game, but our younger guys struggled. We just gave up too many walks," Cochran said.

Michael Grabowski was on the bump under the lights and had similar results to Goltl.

Andrew Reitz came in relief and only allowed four runs the rest of the game.

"Give a lot of credit to North Platte. They are a very disciplined team and hit the ball well, along with very sound defense," Cochran said.

Thursday, the FCB Juniors (6-7) will host district foe Holdrege. The game will be underway at 5:30 p.m. at the Jaycees Sports Complex.

"We just need to put this game behind us and go get a win Thursday night against Holdrege," Cochran said.