Sidney loses 5 to 9 at Ogallala in Senior Legion Baseball on Monday, July 7th, 2025

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

By: Evan Troxel

The Sidney Platte Valley Companies Post 17 Senior Legion Baseball team lost against the Ogallala Adams Bank & Trust Senior Legion Baseball team 5 to 9 on Monday night, July 7th, 2025, at the Ogallala American Legion Field in Ogallala, Nebraska.

It was probably the final Senior Legion Baseball home game of the year for Ogallala.

Ogallala won their second game in Ogallala this season at the Senior Legion level and it was their first win of the season at home at the Senior Legion level in which the game actually started and ended in Ogallala.

Ogallala won their first game at home at the Senior Legion level against Imperial earlier this season in which the game started in Imperial and was finished one week later in Ogallala in a game in which neither team scored any runs in Ogallala if I am not mistaken.

A theme of this Sidney at Ogallala game early on is that each team left exactly two people on base in each of the first three innings.

Ogallala's Jackson Saner gave up just two runs in the first six innings.

Jesse Ortega and Jonah Saner each scored two runs for the home team.

Jackson Saner pitched six-plus innings giving up four runs, one earned run, seven hits, three walks and he struck out six.

Jessie Ortega was 1 for 1 and he walked three times and scored two out of the three times when he was walked. Ortega reached base all four times he came to the plate.

Jonah Saner finished 2 for 4 and put the ball in play three times and he also scored two runs. Jonah Saner reached base three times.

Blake Robb was 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI.

Rowen Bloomberg was 1 for 4 with an RBI and he reached base twice.

Keegan Florom finished 1 for 3 with an RBI.

For the visitors of Sidney, Rhyder Bayne pitched three innings giving up just two runs, one earned run, two hits five walks and six strikeouts.

Sam Hulbert finished with the only two RBI's of the game for Sidney and he had two singles and finished 2 for 4.

Rhyder Bayne was 1 for 3 (including a double) with a walk and scored two runs.

Conner Schumacher was 1 for 4 and scored twice. He reached base twice.

Andy Smelley was 2 for 4 with a run scored. He reached base three times.

Conner Hurt was 2 for 3, with one double and one single.

Ogallala scored one run in the first inning and one more in the third.

The Adams Bank & Trust team then scored four runs in the fourth inning to take a 6-0 lead heading into the top of the fifth.

Sidney responded with two runs and the top of the fifth and Ogallala reciprocated by also scoring two in the bottom half of the fifth and Ogallala led 8 to 2 after five innings.

Ogallala then scored one more in the sixth inning and Sidney scored three more in the top of the seventh inning.

So Ogallala won and improved their won-lost record to 3-11. Sidney fell to 3-7 this season.

Kimball is playing two games against the Sidney Junior Legion team today on Tuesday, July 8th, 2025, according to their schedule.

Ogallala is playing at Gering today on Tuesday, July 8th, 2025.

In the top of the first inning, Ogallala's starting pitcher Jackson Saner gave up a pair of two-out singles to Andy Smelley and Rhys Dorcey.

In the bottom of the first, Ogallala's Jackson Saner struck out looking by Sidney starting pitcher Rhyder Bayne.

Markell Macke then walked for Ogallala and made it to second base on a wild pitch.

Then, Blake Robb singled on a line drive to left field and Markell Macke was at third base.

Jessie Ortega then walked to load the bases and Bradyn Heilman struck out looking.

During Luke Minster's at-bat, Markell Macke then scored on a wild pitch and Ogallala led 1-0.

Minster then grounded out to first baseman Andy Smelley.

In the top of the second inning, Sidney's Calvin Borgmann struck out looking and Weston Neumann was walked.

Conner Hurt then doubled on a line drive to left field and there were runners on second and third with one out.

Tanner Wood then struck out swinging and Rhyder Bayne lined out to center fielder Bradyn Heilman in left center field to end the inning.

In the bottom of the second inning, Ogallala's Rowen Bloomberg reached on a fielding error by second baseman Weston Neumann.

Jonah Saner then struck out swinging.

Bloomberg advanced to second base on a passed ball during Jackson Saner's plate appearance in which he walked.

Markell Macke struck out looking to end the second inning.

In the top of the third inning, Bradyn Heilman, the center fielder, made another catch in left center field for Ogallala, this time robbing Conner Schumacher of a hit.

Andy Smelley then reached on a fielding error and a throwing error by shortstop Levi Nolt, so Smelley ended up on second base.

Rhys Dorcey walked and then Jackson Saner threw a wild pitch to advance the baserunners to third and second base.

Sidney could not score again for the second straight inning with two runners in scoring position and only one out as Sam Hulbert popped up to third baseman Blake Robb and then Calvin Borgmann flied out to center fielder Bradyn Heilman.

In the bottom of the third inning, Blake Robb struck out swinging.

Jessie Ortega then walked again and advanced to second on a Bradyn Heilman single.

Luke Minster then walked to load the bases.

Keegan Florom then tried to advance the baserunners by bunting, but the baseball was caught about halfway between home plate and first base by Sidney first baseman Andy Smelley and then he fired to second base to try to double off Bradyn Heilman but the throw went into left field (the outfield for sure) and Jessie Ortega scored from third base to give Ogallala a 2-0 lead.

So, again, Ogallala scored another run with two outs and Heilman and Minster advanced one base to third and second respectively.

Rowen Bloomberg then struck out swinging to end the inning.

In the top of the fourth inning Sidney did nothing as Weston Neumann struck out swinging, Conner Hurt grounded out to shortstop Levi Nolt and Tanner Wood struck out swinging.

Sidney didn't have the first batter of each inning reach base on Monday night through the first four innings.

Sam Hulbert pitched the fourth inning for Sidney.

To start the bottom of the fourth inning, Ogallala's Jonah Saner was the first batter for either team to reach base as the first batter of an inning.

He singled on a pop up to shallow right field I believe and the Sidney right fielder Tanner Wood could have thrown Jonah Saner out if he really hustled.

Hulbert then retired the next two Ogallala batters on a pop up to the catcher during Jackson Saner's at bat and a flyout to the left fielder during Markell Macke's at bat.

Blake Robb then singled to the second baseman.

Jessie Ortega walked for a second time to specifically load the bases.

Hulbert then threw a wild pitch which scored Jonah Saner while Blake Robb advanced to third and Jessie Ortega to second base during Bradyn Heilman's at bat in which he walked to reload the bases.

The Sidney catcher Rhys Dorcey then allowed a passed ball during Luke Minster's plate appearance which scored another Ogallala run and it was 4-0 at that point.

Luke Minster walked to reload the bases for a third time in the inning.

Keegan Florom then hit a slow ground ball to Calvin Borgmann the Sidney third baseman who threw to first base but it wasn't in time and Jessie Ortega scored from third.

Sidney first baseman couldn't cleanly field Borgmann's throw from third and Ogallala not only scored one run but two runs on the play as Bradyn Heilman also scored to give Ogallala a 6-0 lead.

Rowen Bloomberg then grounded out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, nine people batted for Ogallala.

Sam Hulbert pitched one inning for Sidney giving up four runs, three earned runs, three hits, three walks and he didn't strike out a batter.

In the top of the fifth inning, Rhyder Bayne hit a double to left field and again, like in the Junior Legion Game on the exact same day only hours earlier, the baseball went to the left of the left field foul pole and went beyond the outfield fence out of play as there is an opening with no fencing between the left field foul pole and fencing that is out of play on the third base side.

Conner Schumacher then reached on a fielding error by second baseman Jonah Saner and Bayne moved to third on the play.

Andy Smelley then flied out to center field.

Schumacher then stole second and the Ogallala catcher Jessie Ortega threw it beyond his second baseman and shortstop and Rhyder Bayne scored on the throwing error by the Ogallala catcher.

Rhys Dorcey then field out to right field but it didn't advance the runner to third.

Sam Hulbert then singled to left field, the Ogallala left fielder threw it to the Ogallala catcher Jessie Ortega as Schumacher scored and the Ortega threw it to shortstop Levi Nolt to nail Hulbert at second base to end the top of the fifth inning.

So Sidney scored two runs and trailed 6 to 2 at this point of the game.

Conner Hurt pitched the fifth and sixth innings for Sidney.

Jonah Saner then reached base again to start the bottom of the fifth inning, this time on a fielding error by Calvin Borgmann.

Jonah Saner stole second and advanced to third base on Jackson Saner's single.

During Markell Macke's at bat, Jonah Saner scored on a wild pitch to make it Ogallala 7, Sidney 2.

Markell Macke then hit a ground ball to third advancing Jackson Saner to third and then Blake Robb hit a ground ball to Weston Neumann scoring Jackson Saner from third.

So Ogallala led 8 to 2 at this point.

Jessie Ortega got a single to left field and then advanced to second on a fielding error by the left fielder in which it went under his glove and rolled behind him.

Ortega then advanced to third on a passed ball during Bradyn Heilman's time at the plate and then Ortega got picked off on a 2-5 putout from Sidney catcher Rhys Dorcey to third baseman Calvin Borgmann to end the fifth inning.

In the top of the sixth inning, Sidney didn't score as Calvin Borgmann struck out swinging, Weston Neumann grounded out to shortstop Levi Nolt and then Conner Hurt singled on a line drive to center field.

Hurt then moved to third base on a throwing error on Ogallala catcher Jessie Ortega as the ball went several yards down the right field line on a pickoff attempt at first base intended for the first baseman Markell Macke.

Tanner Wood then struck out looking to end the top of the sixth inning.

In the bottom of the sixth, Bradyn Heilman and Luke Minster both struck out swinging.

Ogallala's Lou Menotti then reached base on a ground ball single to the second baseman. Menotti then stole second and advanced to home plate on a Rowen Bloomberg single.

Bloomberg advanced to second base on the same play on a throwing error by the center fielder Sam Hulbert I believe as I believe Hulbert airmailed the baseball over the catcher or at the very least the catcher couldn't keep the baseball under control.

Ogallala led 9 to 2 at this point.

Jonah Saner then hit another single to the third baseman on a questionable scoring decision as there were several questionable scoring decisions in this game.

Bloomberg moved to third base on the play and then Jackson Saner flied out to center fielder Sam Hulbert in right center field which was to the left of right center field to end the sixth inning.

Conner Hurt pitched two innings giving up three runs, one earned run, five hits, zero walks and he recorded two strikeouts.

In the top of the seventh inning, Rhyder Bayne walked and stole second base.

Conner Schumacher singled to left field.

At this point Jackson Saner went to center field and was done pitching as Jackson told me after the game league rules wouldn't allow him to start pitching to a brand new batter after 104 pitches have been thrown in a game if I understood what he told me correctly.

So Jackson could still throw pitches 105, 106, 107, and so on to the current batter if he was still in the middle of an at bat in which he threw his 104th pitch of the game.

Blake Robb then came into pitch for Ogallala.

Andy Smelley then singled for Sidney and the bases were loaded.

Rhys Dorcey then reached on a fielding error by shortstop Levi Nolt and Rhyder Bayne and Conner Schumacher scored to make the score Sidney 4, Ogallala 9, while Andy Smelley moved to third on the play and Dorcey went to second base.

Sam Hulbert then singled in Smelley and Dorcey moved to third base.

Sidney trailed at this point 9 to 5 after Andy Smelley scored.

Calvin Borgmann then hit a fly ball to left fielder Daniel Dowdy who caught it and threw to third baseman Bradyn Heilman to double off Rhys Dorcey at third base and it was a double play!

Sam Hulbert was still at first base and Weston Neumann hit a weak pop up to second baseman Jonah Saner to end the game!

Blake Robb pitched one inning for Ogallala giving up one run, zero earned runs, two hits, and he walked no batters and he struck out zero batters.

For Sidney, Rhys Dorcey singled and walked, he finished 1 for 3 and reached base three times.

Weston Neumann walked and reached base only once.

Sidney finished the game with five runs, nine hits, eight players left on base and they committed six defensive errors.

Ogallala, on the other hand, finished with nine runs, ten hits, ten people left on base and six errors.

Ogallala's Bradyn Heilman was 1 for 3, he scored a run and he walked. He reached base twice.

Jackson Saner was 1 for 4, he scored a run and he also walked. He reached base twice.

Lou Menotti singled and scored and he finished 1 for 1 at the plate.

Markell Macke finished 0 for 3, but he did walk once and he did score a run.

Luke Minster walked twice and he was 0 for 2.

Sidney and Ogallala I believe are both in Class B Area 7 for Senior Legion Baseball and that area tournament will be from July 25th through 29th, 2025, in Alliance.

The winner of the area tournament will automatically qualify for the State Tournament from August 2nd through 6th, 2025.

The teams who are in the American Division will play the State Tournament in Auburn while the teams in the National Division will play the State Tournament in Minden.

The Class B Senior Legion Playoff Game will be August 9th, 2025.

Ogallala's next Senior Legion home game will probably be in May 2026.