Nebraska City falls to Ralston, Beatrice makes state tournament on wild card

The Beatrice baseball team will make it to the state tournament despite a 2 to 1 loss to Nebraska City in the district semi-finals.

Beatrice qualified for the state tournament for the first time since 2011 after starting the season with a 13 to 1 record. They lost five of their last six games, including the fifth-seeded Nebraska City.

Beatrice is one of two schools who will enter the state tournament on a wildcard.

Nebraska City’s six-game win streak came to end against Ralston, who won the district championship 6 to 1 on Saturday, finishing the season 8 and 11 with a batting average of .241.

Top RBIs are sophomores Kreifel and Snyder and senior Clay Stovall.

Nebraska City avenged a 28 to 5 loss at the hands of Beatrice last week, with a victory  in districts.

The Pioneers scored the go-ahead runs in the seventh inning
The Orangemen got on the board in the first inning on a wild pitch that would score on an RBI groundout by Adam Deboer. The game would remain scoreless until the top of the 7th inning when the Pioneers would score two runs on a passed ball to take a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh. Starting pitcher Clay Stovall would work a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh to secure the upset for the Pioneers.

Stovall was 2 for 3 at the plate and score the winning run for the Pioneers. Also collecting a hit for the Pioneers were Carl Kreifel, Sloan Pelican and Keston Holman.

Stovall was the winning pitcher on the mound and went 7 innings giving up 6 hits and 1 earned run with 10 strikeouts.