Senior Legion team slides into runaway win

NELIGH — The Randolph Senior Legion baseball team found itself in the win category against O’Neill-Neligh in a 12-3 run-rule victory last week.

The game started slowly, with Randolph being down 2-0 at the start of the top of the third, but the road team soon rattled off seven runs to O’Neill-Neligh’s one run in the third and fourth innings. Then in the fifth, Randolph blew the game wide open with a five-run inning and shut down the opposition with no runs in the bottom of the fifth, which secured the win.

Pitching was a strong part of the victory for Randolph, and the main contributor was Aiden Gubbels. He started the game and pitched four solid innings, only allowing three runs off three hits and totaling five strikeouts with 96 pitches.

The bats were alive for Randolph, and the one who exemplified this was Collyn Beal. He went 2-2 with three RBIs and two walks.

Batting-M Gubbels, 1-3,R,BB,2K,SB; S Backer, 2-4,4RBI,1K,2B; C Beal, 2-2,3R,3RBI,2BB,2SB; A Gubbels, 1-3,RBI,1K,2B; J Miller, 0-2,2BB,2SB; C Korth, 0-3,RBI,BB,2SB; I Salmon, 0-2,R,BB,2SB; T Korth,0-1,2R,2BB; G Wortman,1-2,2R,BB,2SB;L Bartles,3R,SB.

Pitching-A Gubbels,4IP,3H,3R,2ER,6BB,5K; D Winkelbauer, 1IP, BB, K.

The seniors found themselves upside down against Stanton at home in a run-rule loss — Stanton 11, Randolph, 0.

The game was never close as Stanton started out the contest with nine runs after the first three innings. It continued the momentum into the fourth, adding two more runs to its total for the final score of 11-0.

Kaleb Gardner’s pitching was a bright spot in the game for Randolph.

He came into the fifth inning and pitched the only non-scoring inning. He totaled two strikeouts along the way.

Jacob Calder, second baseman and pitcher for the senior team, said it’s frustrating to see the runs stack up and defeat Randolph in the end.

“We just got to cut runs down,” he said. “It’s always one inning where they score a bunch.”

Calder hopes the team can get the bats going again, too.

“We’ve just got to be aggressive at the plate and got to have confidence when we are at the plate,” he said.

Randolph looks to bounce back from the 11-0 loss to Stanton as it travels to Ponca on Monday.

Batting-G Wortman, 0-3,2K; S Backer, 1-3; C Beal, 0-3,2K; A Gubbels,0-3,2K; J Miller, 0-1, K,2SB; C Korth, 0-2,SB; I Salmon, 0-1,K; T Korth,0-1,BB;J Calder, 0-2,2K;L Bartles, SB.

Pitching-R Engel,2IP,3H,7R,3ER,2BB,3K; J Miller,1.1IP, H,4R,4ER,6BB,2K; K Gardner,1.2IP,2K.