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Imperial Juniors play two close games at state
PENDER, Neb. — The Imperial Juniors scored first but eventually lost both of their Class C state tournament baseball games last weekend.
Imperial fell 4-2 to Syracuse on Saturday even though coach Bruce Peterson's boys built an early 2-0 advantage.
Thomas Reeves ripped the game's second pitch for a double. He reached third on one passed ball then dashed home thanks to another Syracuse wild pitch.
The Horns made more noise when Reeves singled to score Morel Jurado, who had also singled with one out in Imperial's pitch. Catcher's interference against Syracuse because Jurado advanced into scoring position while Cooper Dillan reached safely in front of Reeves' huge two-out/RBI-hit.
Imperial maintained a 2-1 lead into the fifth where a chance was missed to add more runs.
Triston Hite and Tysen Lempke both singled, moving into scoring position on a Syracuse outfield throw.
With two outs, Nolan Foster smashed one more shot into right field only to see Syracuse catch this baseball.
Momentum soon turned: Syracuse scored a game-tying run during its fifth inning. Another two runs in the sixth gave Syracuse its 4-2 advantage.
Hite singled again before Carter Leibbrandt walked to put the potential game-tying runs on base.
However, Braden LaFollette fanned the final Longhorn which ended this Class C state first-round game.
Syracuse starter Robert Shanks and LaFollette both fanned five of the 10 Syracuse strikeouts.
Jarrett Peterson pitched all six innings, not walking a batter but allowing the four runs on nine hits. Peterson struck out five batters.
Reeves and Hite finished four-for-eight as Imperial's top hitters.
The 'Horns moved into Sunday's elimination game where Palmer scored a 3-2 victory.
No other details were obtained about this contest. Watch for more in Tuesday's Gazette.