Another game. Another win in their last at bat! This has been the theme for the Alliance Seniors in their first 2 games of the Area 7 district baseball tournament. The Spartans downed Gering 7 to 6 on Sunday night to improve to 2 and 0 for the tourney. With the game tied at 6, the Peltz Co got an RBI walk by Jaxson Esparza with the bases full as the Spartans bested their rivals. Starting pitcher Braeden Clarke went 6 frames and had 2 strikeouts. Lexton Salcido tossed a scoreless final inning. With the victory, the Seniors now see their record go to 25 and 12 on the year. The Peltz Co ended the contest with 10 hits. Leading the offense with 2 knocks each were: Clarke, Tony Escamilla, Kobe Strom, and Carver Nemnich. The contest was played in Alliance. Earlier in the day, the Seniors had a win in their final at bat in a 2 to 1 win over Imperial.
Platte Valley were the visitors in the scorebook and failed to score in the top of the opening inning . Alliance pushed 2 across in the home half to seize the early lead. Kegan Rodriguez started the spree with a single. It was followed by an Espen Lanik walk. The Seniors first 2 tallies then came on an RBI hit by Nemnich and a Gering miscue. Strom followed with a hit but was stranded on the bases. Gering countered with 2 scores in the top of the second. PVC used a single and a pair of Peltz Co errors to tie the contest at 2. The see saw affair then went to Alliance in the bottom of the inning. A knock by Clarke was followed by a double by Lanik. After two innings of action, the Spartans led 3 to 2.
Clarke put down Gering 1-2-3 in the top of inning three while Alliance tallied three more scores. The rally began with Strom reaching on an error. Escamilla was next and his single put the Spartans in business. A walk by Esparza loaded the sacks and a wild pitch made it 4 to 2. Alliance’s final 2 scores came after another miscue by the Platte Valley and a wild pitch. Heading to the fourth, the Seniors were up 6 to 2.
Two PVC scores in the top of the fourth gave the hosts some hope. Gering scored twice on a double, single, and 2 fielder’s choices. A strikeout by Clarke ended the top of the frame with the Spartans still ahead by 2. Escamilla singled in the bottom of the inning but was left on the bags. Gering continued their comeback in the fifth with another run. Alliance would load the bases in the home half. Unfortunately all runner’s didn’t cross home.
Inning #6 saw the visitors tie the contest on 3 hits. The Peltz Co did turn a double play in the frame to limit the damage. With the battle knotted at 6, the Spartans couldn’t cash in on a Clarke hit in the bottom of the inning. The contest went to the final inning with the board reading Alliance 6 Gering 6. Salcido hurled a clean inning in the top of the seventh and recorded a k. The Peltz Co started their game winning rally with Rodriguez getting hit by a Gering pitch. Nemnich and Strom then followed with singles as the Spartans loaded the bases. Following an out, Esparza ended the battle with a walk that finished the game with the Seniors getting the 7 to 6 win.
PVC 0 2 0 2 1 1 0 6
Peltz Co 2 1 3 0 0 0 1 7
Alliance had 10 hits, two apiece Nemnich, Strom, Escamilla, Clarke, one each Rodriguez and Lanik.
The Seniors are now in the driver’s seat in their quest for state. Gering and Chadron will battle on Monday with the winner advancing to a championship game with Alliance on Tuesday. The Gering/Chadron winner will need to defeat the Spartans twice in order to move onto state.