Grand Island Home Federal is coming off of a successful spring baseball season and rolled into the legion baseball season with a victory in crunch time, despite losing eight seniors from the spring.
In the seventh inning, Home Federal Bank led 7-6 over Hastings Five Points Bank, who got Jaxen Gangwish and Elijah Johnson on base via singles.
Enter Carter Nelson, who came in relief for Dyllan Hinrichs.
After throwing a wild pitch that sent runners to third and second, Nelson sat down three straight batters, leaving the Hastings’ runner stranded and closing out the 7-6 win for Home Federal on Tuesday night at Ryder Park.
“It’s a really big spot,” Nelson said. “Losing to Hastings in the spring in 13 innings was kind of a killer so being able to get back at them in a pretty good game was good. Coming in, I had trust in the guys behind me. Luckily, I was able to locate pitches for three strikeouts.”
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Hastings came ready to play, scoring two runs in the top of the first on a Johnson RBI single and Evan Rust coming home on a steal of home plate after an attempted steal at second.
Home Federal matched them on the other side, with Broxton Barrientos coming home on a steal at home plate and a Gage Gannon RBI fielder’s choice.
The second inning belonged to Home Federal, who only gave up one hit to Hastings on the top side and put on four runs, building a 6-2 lead. Cohen Nelson had a 2-RBI double to center field, Gannon had an RBI walk and Sam Dinkelman had an RBI single to right field.
Hastings cut their deficit in the third to 6-4 on a Nick Conant and Braden Rutt RBI single and tied the game in the fourth on a Johnson 2-RBI double to the left field line that was about a foot away from being a foul ball.
After forcing Hastings to go 1-2-3 at the plate, Home Federal recaptured the lead in the fifth. With two outs on the board, Barrientos hit a hard RBI single to second base, scoring Jack Steenson and taking a 7-6 lead.
Hastings again went 1-2-3 at the plate in the sixth, but Creighton Jacobitz, who was entered as a relief pitcher for Hastings in the fifth, got them out of a pickle on the other side. With the bases loaded, he struck out Ryan Coslor, leaving three Home Federal runners stranded.
Grand Island had 10 hits on the game, led by Sam Dinkelman and Cedric Sullivan who each had two. Nelson had two RBIs and a double.
“I thought our approach at the plate was really good,” Home Federal coach Kirby Wells said. “We got some runs early and got into their bullpen and were able to steal some bases and had good situational hitting.”
Hinrichs had the win on the mound for Home Federal, throwing four strikeouts and two walks in four innings. Fifty-five of his 80 pitches were thrown for strikes.
Wells said it’s been a quick transition from the spring to the summer and with a lot of new faces, they’re looking to build on their depth.
“With our late run we made, we were able to try out for two days and practice for two days,” he said. “Really proud of our guys and the way they handled that. …It’s a brand new team from last spring to the summer. A lot of guys are going to get opportunities to play and develop. It’s exactly what our program needs and a lot of guys answered questions that we had.”
Home Federal (1-0) will play at Kearney Runza on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
“They’re going to be a good team,” Wells said. “Well coached. Fun atmosphere. A lot of familiar faces from the spring team, so it’s going to be a great challenge for our guys. We’ll have to come over ready to play and execute a full seven innings.”
