Opening round of the Veteran’s classic baseball tournament in Rapid City was a thriller for the Alliance Seniors. A bases loaded walk by Jaxson Esparza in the bottom of the seventh lifted the Spartans past Gillette 2 to 1 in an instant classic. With the victory, the Peltz Co improves to 12 and 5 for the season. The Seniors got strong starting pitching from Espen Lanik in posting the win. Lanik went 5 plus innings and had 6 strikeouts. In relief, Lexton Salcido held the Riders scoreless. Alliance ended with 6 hits and were led by Kobe Strom who finished with 2.
Lanik started the affair with a 1-2-3 inning with one k as the Riders were denied any scores in the top of the first. The Seniors also went scoreless in the opener. Frame #2 was another scoreless one with the Spartans getting a knock from Strom but no runs. Gillette broke thru in the top of the third. The Riders used a walk, a hit, and a wild pitch to take the 1 to 0 lead. Alliance’s bats were again silent in the home half and the game went to the fourth with the Seniors down 1 to 0.
Alliance was solid on defense in frame 4. Lanik recorded two more strikeouts while catcher Carver Nemnich threw out a Rider base runner. Momentum then stayed with Alliance in the bottom of the inning as the Seniors tied the score. The Spartans got a hit by Esparza and a sac bunt by Kegan Rodriguez to began a small rally. Nemnich was next and his hit moved Esparza to third. From there, an RBI groundout by Braeden Clarke made it 1 to 1. The Riders failed to score in the fifth while the Peltz Co got knocks from Creighton Fritzler and Strom but no scores. Inning six had no scores and, after six innings of action, the ball game was knotted at 1.
A pair of hits by Gillette in the top of the seventh gave the Riders a chance. But reliever Salcido kept the Wyoming club off the scoreboard. Alliance then won the battle in the home half. Tony Escamilla began things with a double. Lanik then reached on an error and Strom was hit by a pitch to load the bags for Esparza.
The Peltz Co shortstop worked a walk that ended the contest.
Final Alliance 2 Gillette 1
Riders 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
Alliance 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2
Hits for the Spartans Strom 2 one each Esparza Escamilla Nemnich and Fritzler.