Tigers sweep Chadron

Andrew Towne
Posted 6/16/23

CHADRON, Neb. – The Torrington Senior American Legion baseball team went on the road, picking up a road sweep over the Chadron Nationals on Tuesday evening.

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Tigers sweep Chadron

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CHADRON, Neb. – The Torrington Senior American Legion baseball team went on the road, picking up a road sweep over the Chadron Nationals on Tuesday evening.

In game one, the Tigers rolled to a 9-0 run-ruled victory, but in game two, the visitors escaped with an 11-9 victory.

“It was nice for us to go on the road, and Chadron is a good team,” coach Jackson Jones said. “They’ve beaten a lot of good teams this year. We were short-handed a couple guys, so we got some younger guys some reps.”

Torrington jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning. All four runs came with two out as Chadron record back-to-back outs to start the inning.

Ben Firminhac got the offense going with a single. Mac Hibben was hit by a pitch, and Landre Greiman drove in the game’s first run with a single. Jonathan Bloom drove in two more with a single and later scored on a wild pitch.

“We did a really good job of manufacturing runs the first game, getting ahead and taking their life away,” Jones said. “It was a good game to get it going.”

After a scoreless second, The Tigers added four more in the third inning.

Once again, it was Firminhac who started the inning with a single. Hibben walked and Greiman reached on an error, scoring Firminhac. Hibben scored on a Bloom ground out to make the score 6-0. Ryan Moorehouse hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Greiman, and a second Chadron error extended the visitor lead to 8-0.

Greiman drove in the game’s final run in the top of the fourth inning with a single.

Firminhac went 3-for-3 and scored three runs.

“Ben is seeing the ball well. He’s a guy who has worked so hard and been part of the program the last six or seven years and has been a huge part. He’s a disciplined hitter that he’s going to wait for the pitch he wants. Then he’s able to drive it,” Jones said. “He does a great job of being a leader for us offensively and defensively. Those guys rally behind him.”

Greiman went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two run scored. Greiman also picked up the win, pitching four innings, striking out four and giving up three hits. Hibben closed out the game with one inning pitched, striking out two.

“Landre pitched extremely well for us,” Jones said. “He and Mac Hibben combined for a three-hit shutout, which against anyone, is a pretty good feat.”

In game two, Torrington overcame a 4-2 deficit in the third inning en route to an 11-9 win.

“Any time you go on the road, you know, especially if you beat them in the first game, they’ll come out with a little bit of fire and play hard,” Jones said.

That’s what Chadron did.

“They punched us in the mouth a little bit, and it gave us a chance to respond in a situation that we needed to,” Jones said.

In the game two, Torrington got a run across in the first and second to take a 2-0 lead, but Chadron scored four in the bottom of the third.

The Tigers committed three errors in the inning, aiding Chadron in taking a 4-2 lead.

It wasn’t until the top of the fifth inning when Torrington managed to tie the game.

Drew Kramer’s two-RBI single tied the game at four apiece, and he earned the coaches praise following the game.

“Drew was one of those younger players I mentioned and did a really good job,” Jones said. “He kickstarted our offense and gave us some life.”

Kramer ended the game with three hits and two RBIs.

Torrington’s big inning came in the top of the sixth, when the Tigers plated seven runs to take 11-4 lead.

However, Chadron wasn’t going away quietly. They scored five in the home half of the sixth to cut the Torrington lead to two.

In the seventh, both teams got two runners on base but were unsuccessful in bringing them home.

In addition to Kramer’s three hits, Austin Short, Bloom and Grady Shields also tallied two hits apiece. Torrington’s lineup combined for 13 hits.

Desmond picked up the win, pitching five innings, striking out four. Hibben came on in to work a scoreless seventh, striking out one.

“Ayden did a really good job on the mound keeping us in the game after a couple of errors. He threw strikes and trusted his defense to make plays for him,” Jones said. “That was a really good win for us. It was a really good game for us going into our conference games next week.”

The Tigers (14-6) return to conference play on Monday, June 19 against Wheatland. First pitch of the doubleheader is set for 5 p.m.

“It was beneficial for us to see them early in the year because they threw a couple arms that we know we’ll see on Monday,” Jones said. “We’ll be able to see and recognize those pitches because we’ve already seen them. Those guys have improved a lot since the last time we’ve played them. We know we’ll have to go down there and do what we did against Chadron – come out and punch them in the mouth and be able to put everything on the side and win two conference games.”