Sidney defeats Ogallala 18-2 in Junior Legion Baseball on Monday, July 7th, 2025

(Photo Credit: "Baseball Glove", Images in Media from Wix on Wix.com)

This story was published on Tuesday, July 8th, 2025, at 3:49 p.m. Mountain Time.

This story was edited and re-published on Tuesday, July 8th, 2025, at 4:10 p.m. Mountain Time.

By: Evan Troxel

The Sidney Platte Valley Companies Post 17 Junior Legion Baseball team defeated the Ogallala Adams Insurance Advisors Junior Legion Baseball team 18-2 on Monday, July 7th, 2025, at the Ogallala American Legion Field in Ogallala, Nebraska.

It is probably Ogallala's last home game for Junior Legion Baseball until May 2026.

Sidney used a 12-run top of the second inning to propel themselves to victory.

Sidney's Conner Schumacher pitched two scoreless innings (and was the winning pitcher) while Andy Smelley went 2 for 3 with two RBI's and two runs scored.

Schumacher gave up zero hits, three walks and struck out three. Schumacher gave up zero earned runs.

Smelley had two doubles which both were to right center field.

Easton Knispel pitched the most innings of any Ogallala pitcher going three innings and he gave up six runs while Keegan Florom and Luke Minster each had one hit and scored one run.

Knispel gave up six hits, two walks and he recorded one strikeout. Knispel gave up two earned runs.

Florom doubled while Minster singled in the bottom of the third inning.

Sidney is now 12-5 this season while Ogallala is now 2-12 this season.

Ogallala travels to Gering today on Tuesday, July 8th, 2025.

In the top of the first inning, Sidney's Rhyder Bayne popped up to the first baseman.

Ogallala starting pitcher Daniel Dowdy then struck out the second batter in Sidney's lineup named Conner Schumacher.

Right handed batter Kyle Jaggers then came to the plate for Sidney and after at least three pitches he had to come out of the game after he fouled the baseball off the left side of his face on an inside pitch from the left handed pitcher Daniel Dowdy and went immediately to the ground.

It appeared to me Jaggers came pretty close to seriously injuring himself with a foul ball on the previous pitch of the plate appearance, which also was a high and inside pitch. According to me, that swing looked like it did hit him in the face, but the pain was obviously much less severe.

Rylan Swope took over for Jaggers and popped up to the second baseman to end the inning.

In the bottom of the first, Ogallala had a quick inning as Keegan Florom popped up to the catcher in foul territory, Jonah Saner lined out to the center fielder and Luke Minster hit a deep fly ball to left fielder Rylan Swope (who replaced Kyle Jaggers) to end the first inning.

In the top of the second inning, Andy Smelley doubled and then the next six Sidney batters walked which forced in four Sidney runs.

Daniel Dowdy then was removed as the Ogallala pitcher and Dowdy threw only about two (or a few more) strikes total to probably the last five batters he faced as he likes to throw the outside pitch to right handed hitters.

Weston Neumann then scored on a wild pitch for Sidney by Ogallala's Jonah Saner and then Conner Schumacher walked.

Rylan Swope then had an RBI groundout to the second baseman scoring Tanner Wood.

Andy Smelley then had a two-run double which scored Rhyder Bayne and Parker Dickman (who courtesy ran for Conner Schumacher) and Sidney led 8-0 with only one out in the inning.

Ogallala's Daniel Dowdy faced 10 Sidney batters in one-plus innings pitched and he allowed seven runs (which I believe were all earned runs) and he allowed just one hit and he walked six batters and struck out one.

Rhys Dorcey tripled easily to left center field scoring Smelley and then Sam Hulbert drove in Dorcey making the score Sidney 10, Ogallala 0.

Hulbert stole second, Calvin Borgmann walked and then both of those guys stole the next base.

Weston Neumann hit a ground ball to the first baseman scoring Hulbert and then Borgmann scored on a passed ball to make it Sidney 12, Ogallala 0, before the inning concluded with Tanner Wood striking out swinging.

Ogallala's Jonah Saner pitched one inning giving up 5 runs, 4 earned runs, 3 hits, 2 walks and striking out one.

In the bottom of the second, Ogallala's Lou Menotti walked, he advanced to second base on a passed ball and then Easton Knispel and Levi Nolt walked to load the bases.

Preston Runge and Evan Heilman then struck out swinging while Daniel Dowdy struck out looking to end the inning.

Easton Knispel pitched the third, fourth and fifth inning for Ogallala.

With one out in the top of the third, Sidney's Conner Schumacher singled to right center field on a line drive while Rylan Swope singled to left field on a line drive.

Andy Smelley then hit a ground ball to shortstop Levi Nolt who threw the ball to third baseman Luke Minster for a force out attempt at third base, but Minster couldn't catch the ball!

Minster then threw home to try to correct his mistake and get out Parker Dickman (who, again, I believe was courtesy running for Conner Schumacher), but the baseball went away from the Ogallala player covering home, Dickman scored and Sidney then had runners on second and third.

Rhys Dorcey walked to load the bases and Sam Hulbert walked to force Rylan Swope to score making the score at that point Sidney 14, Ogallala 0.

Calvin Borgmann then hit a sacrifice fly to left field scoring Andy Smelley.

Weston Neumann then came to the plate and there were 1 ball and 2 strikes and the game was stopped due to a lightning delay as it barely rained at all!...

After the lightning delay, Neumann flied out to center fielder Lou Menotti.

Rylan Swope pitched the third and fourth innings for Sidney.

In the bottom of the third inning, Keegan Florom hit a double to left field which I believe rolled to the left of the left field foul pole and went out of play as there is no fencing for probably at least 30 feet to the left of the left field foul pole.

With one out, Luke Minster then hit a single on a ground ball to the third baseman but Florom couldn't advance to third on the play.

With two outs, Easton Knispel hit a ground ball to the shortstop who threw to the first baseman who couldn't field the ball cleanly and allowed Florom to score from second base while Minster only got to second base.

Minster stole third while Knispel (or the courtesy runner Miles Reisig stole second base) and then Minster came home to score when the Sidney catcher tried to throw Minster out at third (which Minster would have probably been out with a better throw).

Levi Nolt then flied out to left field and Ogallala trailed Sidney 15 to 2 after three innings.

In the top of the fourth inning, with one out, Rhyder Bayne singled on a ground ball to left field and then stole second base.

With two outs, Rylan Swope singled to center field scoring Bayne from second base.

Sidney led 16 to 2 at this point and Aidan Baker flied out to center field to end the top half of the fourth inning.

Ogallala didn't get anybody on-base in the bottom of the fourth.

Sidney's Rylan Swope pitched two innings giving up two runs, zero earned runs, two hits, zero walks and three strikeouts with the last two strikeouts as swinging strikeouts and the first strikeout as a "caught looking" strikeout.

In the top of the fifth, Rhys Dorcey singled to left center field on a line drive and then Parker Dickman popped out to the catcher.

Ogallala's Luke Minster then made a fielding error on a ball put into play by Cooper Sparks.

Weston Neumann then singled to the Ogallala shortstop to load the bases.

Tanner Wood struck out swinging and Rhyder Bayne hit a baseball to Ogallala's shortstop Levi Nolt who airmailed the Ogallala first baseman allowing two Sidney runs to score.

With runners on second and third, Corbin Bondegard hit the ball back to pitcher Easton Knispel who ran a little ways towards first base and then made an overhand throw by flipping it and almost overthrew the first baseman to end the top of the fifth.

In the bottom of the fifth, Ogallala's Keegan Florom was hit by a pitch and then advanced to second on a single by Jonah Saner.

Luke Minster flied out to center (if I am not mistaken), Florom and Saner made it to third and second respectively on a wild pitch by Aidan Baker, Lou Menotti struck out swinging and then Easton Knispel popped up to the third baseman to end the ballgame.

Sidney's Aidan Baker pitched one inning giving up zero runs and zero earned runs, one hit, one hit batter, no walks and one strikeout.

Sidney scored 18 runs, ten hits, five people left on base and two errors.

For Sidney, Rhys Dorcey was 2 for 2 with two walks, one run scored and one RBI. Corbin Bondegard scored twice for Dorcey (if I am not mistaken).

Sam Hulbert was 1 for 1 with two walks, scored two runs and had two RBI's.

Rhyder Bayne was 1 for 4 with two runs scored and one RBI. He walked once and reached base three times.

Conner Schumacher was 1 for 2 with a walk and I believe Parker Dickman scored both times for Schumacher (once for sure) when Schumacher got on-base.

Calvin Borgmann walked twice and hit a sacrifice fly as he scored two runs and had two RBI's in three plate appearances.

Rylan Swope was 2 for 4 with one run scored and two RBI's.

Weston Neumann finished 1 for 3 with one run scored and two RBI's. He walked once.

Tanner Wood was 0 for 3 with one walk, one run scored and one RBI.

Cooper Sparks was 0 for 1 and scored a run.

Ogallala finished with two runs, three hits, six men left on base and four defensive errors.

Keegan Florom and Easton Knispel each reached base twice for Ogallala.

Jonah Saner finished with one hit while Lou Menotti, Easton Knispel and Levi Nolt each walked once.

Overall, I believe both teams played all of their players, so everybody got to play even if some of the players didn't get to play very much or for very long.

Sidney is scheduled to host Kimball today for two games on July 8th, 2025. On Sidney's schedule it says they are playing a Junior Legion only doubleheader, with one game at 5 p.m. and the other game at 7 p.m.

Ogallala will then maybe have their players and coaches participate in an All-Star Game on July 10th.

Ogallala is in Class B Area 7 if I am not mistaken.

The Junior Legion Area Class B Area 7 Tournament for Ogallala will be from July 11th through the 15th in Sidney.

The winner of that tournament automatically qualifies for the state tournament.

The Junior Legion Class B State Tournament for Ogallala will be from July 19th through July 23rd in Gering.