Senior Horns win three straight games

    After 10 days without a game, the Pinnacle Bank Senior Legion baseball team jumped back into action last week.
    The Horns were 3-3 heading into the break and started off a three-game win streak with a victory over Hershland.
    With Cooper Dillan on the mound in Hershey, Imperial sat the Trojans’ first six batters down in order.
    Runs were tough to come by for both teams over the first three innings. Imperial loaded the bases in the second inning, but didn’t score, and Hershland stranded a runner on third base in the third.
    All that changed in the fourth inning. Imperial scored Carter Leibbrandt after his walk and two singles by teammates. Hershland took advantage of a Horns error to score its leadoff batter with back-to-back singles. Each team stranded runners on first and second.
    In the fifth, it was Imperial that scored its lead off runner to take the lead for good. Tysen Lempke singles and advanced home with a balk and error.
    Hershland mistakes, including catcher interference, two errors and a pass ball, led to four Imperial runs in the seventh. Jaret Peterson drove in two runs with a home run to highlight the 6-1 win.
    Dillan pitched three innings before Colin O’Neil came on in relief. Each struck out four and neither allowed a walk.
    Imperial out hit Hershland 6-5.
    The Horns shook off a five-error game to pick up a 12-10 win over Broken Bow at home Saturday.
    Broken Bow’s only two errors of the game led to a 2-0 run by Imperial in the bottom of the first. Leadoff hitter Thomas Reeves was hit by a pitch and came around to score when cleanup hitter Gavin Wisnieski advanced to second on the errors. A double by O’Neil score Wisnieski.
    The Horns added a third run in the second inning before both offenses came to life in the third.
    Broken Bow batters led off the inning being hit by a pitch and reaching on an error. Back-to-back walks and a single scored one run and left runners in place to score on a home run.
    Trailing 3-6, Imperial stormed back into the lead with eight runs in the bottom of the third. Besides five hits, including a home run by Peterson, the Horns had two batters hit by pitches.
    A two-error inning allowed Broken Bow to score two runs in the fourth inning. Imperial countered with one run on two Broken Bow errors in the bottom half.
    After a scoreless fifth inning when Imperial stranded a runner on third, Broken Bow closed its deficit to 10-12 in the sixth inning.
    With Broken Bow needing two runs to stay alive, Lempke struck out two batters to end any threat.
    Dillan started his second game in a row, striking out five and walking six.
    O’Neil had two hits, including a double, to lead Imperial.
    Saturday’s home game against Gothenburg kept fans on the edges of their seats.
    The Melons were first on the board with in the third inning. Stuck in a bases loaded jam, the Horns got force outs at home and third to minimize any damage.
    Imperial went to work at the plate, moving runners around the bases with two hits, a walk and a sacrifice fly to take a 3-1 lead.
    The lead didn’t last long. Gothenburg homered and took advantage of three-straight walks to score two in the fourth inning. The Melons loaded the bases in the fifth but were held to only one run before sneaking in one more run in the sixth.
    Trailing 3-5, Imperial worked its way back into the game in the sixth inning with a sac fly by Lempke.
    With Mason Wallin on in relief, the Horns sat Gothenburg down in order in the top of the seventh. Needing one run to stay alive, Leibbrandt and Wallin hit back-to-back singles. With two outs a walk by Camron Lempke loaded the bases. Leibbrandt’s tying run came on a single by Reeves at the top of the order. As Gothenburg pitchers struggled, Walling scored the winning run on a walk by T. Lempke.
    Imperial out hit Gothenburg 9-6. Reeves, Peterson and Leibbrandt each had two hits against the Melons.
    Defensively, the Horns had four errors behind pitchers O’Neil and Wallin. In three innings of relief Wallin struck out five and only allowed one hit.
Up next
    Imperial has a busy week ahead. Besides last weekend’s games on Saturday and Sunday, the Horns had a game Tuesday at McCook and a makeup game Wednesday at Lexington, before hosting Ogallala Thursday then taking off for Broken Bow Saturday and Holdrege Sunday.