A rare triple play flipped by the Alliance Spartan baseball team put a bow on a 14 to 3 victory over the Advisors from Ogallala in legion play Thursday. In the bottom of the final inning, the first 2 runners reached for the Adams Insurance home team before Alliance spun the the rare feat to end the contest. The Peltz Co improved to 12 and 1 for the year, winning their 12th game in a row. Alliance was solid on both sides. Spartan pitchers gave up just 3 hits while the Peltz Co offense closed with 12 knocks. Mikey Johnson led the hit parade with 3 with Jackson Smith and Kobe Strom adding 2 apiece. Four Spartan took the mound. Strom was the starter and went 3 innings. Also pitching for Alliance were: EJ Garcia, Teagan O’Gorman and Smith.
Four runs in the top of the first got the Peltz Co off to a great start. A walk to leadoff man Espen Lanik set up the big inning. Lanik would plate the first run following an RBI double by Strom. The inning continued with a single by Johnson and a walk to Kegan Nelson. Smith was next and his single made the score 2 to 0. The scoring concluded with a 2 RBI hit by Tanner Salcido as the Spartans surge ahead 4 to 0. Strom set the hosts down 1-2-3 in the home half of the inning.
Inning #2 had the Spartans increase their advantage. Strom was hit by a pitch and moved into scoring position following another hit by Johnson. An Ogallala wild pitch then plated run five. The Adams Insurance squad failed to score in the bottom of the inning. In the third, the Spartans went down in order while Ogallala put 3 on the board. The Advisors used a couple of hits, a walk, and an error by the Peltz Co to make the score Alliance 5 Ogallala 3 after three innings of action.
Two more tallies by Alliance in the top of the fourth gave the Spartans a bigger margin. Garcia walked to start the inning and scored on a double by Strom. Johnson then continued his big night with another hit that scored run #7. Now on the mound, Garcia allow no Ogallala runs in the bottom of the inning. The fifth inning had the Peltz Co garnering two more tallies. A hit by Smith began things. Following a Spartan walk, it was Lanik delivering a 2 run RBI hit that made the score 9 to 3. The Adams Insurance club went scoreless in their attempt in the home half of the frame.
An RBI hit by Creighton Fritzler helped the Spartan go up 10 to 3 in the top of inning 6. Once again, the hosts were turned away in the bottom of the inning. Alliance put the contest away in their last try in the top of the seventh. The Spartans scored 4 more times to take a 14 to 3 lead. Walks to Jackson Devlin and Garcia set the stage for a big inning. Devlin would steal home for run 11 and an RBI ground out by Fletcher Moseman scored Garcia to put the score at 12 to 3. Carson Stull was next and his knock gave the Peltz Co run 13. A Nelson RBI ground out ended the scoring for the Spartans as Alliance went up 14 to 3. Miguel Galvan also had a hit in the inning. With Smith now on the mound, the Spartan defense turned the triple play to end the game with Alliance getting the 14 to 3 win.
ALL 4 1 0 2 2 1 4 14
OG 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 3
12 hits for Alliance Johnson had 3; Strom and Smith 2 each; one apiece Lanik, Galvan, Tanner Salcido, Fritzler, Stull.