Seniors split first two games of Area 6 tourney

July 19--FREMONT -- One big South Sioux City inning kept Cornerstone Insurance Group from winning its first two games of the Class A Area 6 tournament.

After edging Grand Island U-Save 12-11 in the opening round Saturday, Columbus fell 4-3 to South Sioux City, putting the city seniors team in the losers bracket of the American Legion baseball tournament at Schilke Baseball Complex in Fremont.

The seniors were scheduled to play Norfolk Nucor/Elkhorn Valley Bank on Monday. No report on that game was made available at presstime.

Columbus came away with the win in the opener when Luke Jarecki's double plated Dylan Benne with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Benne led off the frame with a walk.

The hit completed a comeback which saw Columbus score eight runs in the final three innings to overcome a 10-4 deficit.

U-Save had scored seven runs in the fourth to open up the lead before adding three in the sixth. Grand Island was aided by several Columbus errors in the big fourth frame.

Trey Rinkol and Brenden Martinsen had three hits apiece to pace Columbus. It was Martinsen's three-run double to cap a five-run seventh inning that pulled Columbus within 10-9.

Rinkol reached base four times, also walking and scoring a run in the eighth. The Columbus leadoff man scored three times.

U-Save scored one in the top of the eighth, but Columbus tied the game in the bottom of the inning when Miles Putnam, who finished with four RBIs, drove in two with a double to tie the game at 11-all.

Putnam had two hits in the game and also reached base when he was hit by a pitch.

Benne also reached base three times on two walks and a hit-by-pitch, and Cade Hanson had one hit -- a double -- and also drew a pair of walks. Zach McDuffee had two hits and was also hit by a pitch.

Columbus had 21 baserunners in the contest.

South Sioux City needed only one inning -- the fourth -- to score all of its runs in the win over Columbus on Sunday.

Columbus bounced back with three runs in the sixth inning, a frame in which the city team batted around, to pull within one. Hanson led off with a walk, and consecutive singles by Putnam, McDuffee, Martinsen and Benne brought the runs in, with McDuffee, Martinsen and Benne driving home runs.

Columbus was able to load the bases in the inning, but could not get the tying run across. The seniors left nine runners on base in the last five innings.

Putnam and Brady Dugan had two hits apiece for Columbus, while Benne and Rinkol reached base three times each -- Benne on a hit, a walk and a hit-by-pitch and Rinkol with three walks.

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