Columbus seniors sweep doubleheader

May 30--COLUMBUS -- After playing its first five games on the road and traveling more than 800 miles in the past week, the Columbus Cornerstone Insurance Group senior Legion baseball team finally got its first two home games of the summer, and its first two wins.

"It feels good," head coach Cody Schilling said. "Coming home and getting a little home cooking here and the kids got to sleep in their own beds, get up and come to the ballpark and not have to travel somewhere, that helps."

The seniors swept Fremont First State Bank, 9-1 and 4-3, on Sunday at Pawnee Park Field.

In the first game, Dylan Benne got the start and cruised through the first four innings, racking up six strikeouts in the process. After getting two quick outs in the fifth, Benne walked Fremont leadoff hitter Alec Carr, then immediately signaled Schilling to come out.

Benne exited the game with pain in his throwing shoulder.

Cade Hansen came in to close out the inning. After allowing an unearned run, Hansen got a strikeout with runners on first and second to end the threat.

The duo combined to allow just two hits in the game.

After the side was struck out in the bottom of the first, the Columbus bats got rolling, scoring in five consecutive innings to get a run-rule victory in six innings.

Zach McDuffee doubled to lead off the second inning and came around to score to stake Columbus to a 1-0 lead.

In the third inning, two one-out singles from Trey Rinkol and Hansen got Columbus rolling again. Rinkol scored on a Miles Putnam RBI groundout and Hansen came home on Andrew Altstadt's two-out RBI single to put Columbus up 3-0.

Columbus added three more runs in the bottom of the fourth on just one hit, thanks to three Fremont errors, to give the seniors a 6-0 lead.

After Fremont scored its lone run in the top of the fifth, McDuffee homered in the bottom half of the inning to get the run back.

McDuffee then delivered a walk-off hit in the sixth to end the game. After two quick outs, back-to-back walks to Rinkol and Hansen set the stage. Putnam delivered an RBI single and Altstadt followed with a walk to load the bases for McDuffee, who lined a single to score Hansen and end the game.

It was a welcome sight for Schilling to see his team put up some runs. After scoring just four runs total in Saturday's doubleheader with North Platte, Schilling got on his team.

"I said 'Hey, it's not even about getting hits, it's putting the ball in play and getting your teammates moving around the bases, force them to make plays on us. If we don't force the issue and we just sit back, bad things are going to happen,'" Schilling said.

His team took the message to heart and responded on Sunday.

"We've pitched and played well enough in the field to win games, we just hadn't put it together at the plate yet," Schilling said. "We did a good job from that standpoint, much better than we've done all season. I'm really happy with the kids."

In the second game, Trevor Sanne threw a complete game, scattering three runs, two earned, and six hits over seven innings.

Sanne got just enough help from his offense to clinch the sweep.

Fremont struck right away in the top of the first with a little small ball. Blake Dieckmann led off the game with a single, was bunted to second, then scored on Braydyn Thomas' single.

Columbus got the run back in the bottom of the inning. Rinkol led off with a double, then scored on McDuffee's single.

Columbus added two runs in the bottom of the second to take a 3-1 lead.

Fremont got a run back in the fourth, then tied the game on an unearned run in the sixth.

But Columbus answered in the bottom of the sixth. Brady Dugan doubled to start the frame, then Tyler Nelson reached on a bunt to put runners on the corners. Hunter Schilling came in to pinch hit and delivered the game-winning hit to score Dugan.

"They weren't ready to give up," coach Schilling said.

Fremont put a runner on second with one out in the seventh, but Sanne induced two fly balls to shut down Fremont and seal Columbus' second win of the day.

"Trevor did a super job," coach Schilling said. "He came out today, threw strikes, commanded the strike zone and we put enough hits together to get out in front and stay in front. He kept us in the game."

McDuffee was 4 for 6 on the afternoon with two runs scored, three RBI and finished a triple short of the cycle in the first game. Rinkol went 3 for 6 and scored three times.

The wins move the seniors to 2-5 on the summer season.

"They're hungry for it, it's just a matter of putting everything together and today they did," coach Schilling said. "We made a few little bugaboos here and there out in the field, but we didn't let it get us down, we stayed with it and came out on top."

Columbus heads to Norfolk on Tuesday for a doubleheader then hosts its tournament starting Friday.

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