Miscues Cost Neligh Juniors Against Creighton, 8-2

An offensive surge guided the Creighton Junior Legion baseball team to an 8-2 win over the Neligh Juniors Sunday in the Legion District Tournament at Pierce.

"It was a great game," said Creighton coach Kyle Kibbie. "We struggled early, but towards the third inning we started to come around and came up with some big hits when we needed to. Defensively, we had a great outing and we had some kids make some fantastics plays. We played really great baseball today."

"We started out really good and I was really excited about where we were heading," said Neligh mentor Dan Murray. "Then the third inning rolled around and the wheels fell off. We lost out fight and we showed it on the field. Creighton just out played us from that point forward."

Neligh plated the first two runs of the game to take an early lead.

A RBI single by Conor Ramold in the second and RBI double by Hunter Reestman in the third put Neligh ahead.

On the mound, Beau Murray cruised to start the contest, striking out six of the first nine batters he face.

With two outs in the third, Creighton's Alex Homan singled and came around on a Conner Hammer double for its first run.

Creighton took ahold of the game from there.

In the fourth, Sam VanMetre ripped a two-run double to center for Creighton's first lead. A triple by Homan scored VanMetre to give Creighton a 4-2 advantage.

An error and RBI single by Clay Curtis pushed Creighton's lead to four in the fifth and two more runs in sixth sealed a spot in Tuesday's district title game for Creighton.

"We need to get that first run," Kibbie said. "Once we got that first run and a couple of really solid hits, our team started to settle in. Our kids know what we can do when we all work together."

Mitchell Mackeprang collected the complete-game victory on the mound for Creighton. Mackeprang allowed two runs on five hits and struck out seven.

"This is best pitching performance he (Mackeprang) has had all year," Kibbie said. "He did a great job. We needed him to throw strikes and let them (Neligh) hit the ball. If they earn it, they earn it, but we knew we had a good defense behind. They have done a great job all year. Between Mitchell's pitching and great defense, we played great ball."

Homan led Creighton with two hits, two runs scored and a RBI. Curtis, VanMetre and Hammer each added RBI hits.

Reestman tallied two hits and a RBI for Neligh. Ramold recorded a RBI double, while Garett Belitz and Beau Murray each scored.

Kaleb Pofahl was the losing pitcher. In 3 1/3 innings of work, Pofahl gave up seven runs on six hits and struck out five. Beau Murray started the game and surrendered a run on two hits and struck out six in 2 2/3 innings.

Four errors at critical points in the game cost the Neligh Juniors.

"We pitched well enough to win the game, but we didn't back it up defensively or with the bats," said coach Murray. 

Creighton (17-5) awaits the winner of the consolation finals and plays in the district title game Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.

"We have a day off tomorrow, but we're still going to practice," Kibbie said. "We'll go for a little bit and stay around baseball for now. Then Tuesday we will come back ready to play for a district championship."

Neligh (7-5) faces Hartington in the consolation finals Monday at 7 p.m.

"We talked after the game and this one is behind us," said coach Murray. "We have a tough game tomorrow now with Hartington to get back to the championship game, but we will be ready."