Post 4 Juniors fall short against Wayne, but bounce back big

HARTINGTON — The Hartington Post 4 Junior Legion baseball team dropped a tough, hard-fought 6-3 game to Wayne on May 29,then responded with a 22-3 shellacking of South Sioux City on June 3 to improve to 2-1 on the young season.

Against South Sioux City, Post 4 scored three runs in the top of the first inning to get things started and used an 11-run fifth to seal the game and the win.

South Sioux City matched Hartington with three runs in the bottom of the first inning, but failed to score the rest of the way.

Meanwhile, Post 4 plated one run in the second to take the lead,six in the third to extend the advantage and another run in the fourth before the fifth-inning explosion.

Koby Detlefsen was 2-for-3 at the plate with a double and an RBI; Hunter Bensen smacked a double, scored twice and had four RBIs; and Micah Cattau had two triples, scored twice and had an RBI.

Bensen, Cattau, Breiton Whitmire, Brady Hochstein, Keyton Arens, Bodie Hochstein, Easton Hochstein, Nolan Heimes and Maverick Heine all scored twice in the game and all but one batter scored.

Gavin Klug got the win on the mound for Hartington. A tough final inning spelled doom for Post 4 against Wayne. In fact, Hartington went into the top of the seventh with a 3-2advantage and looked poised to defeat Wayne before Wayne scored four runs in the top of the seventh to take a 6-3 lead, which held as Post 4 was scoreless in its half of the seventh.

“We had an error in the seventh and things just kind of snowbaled,” Hartington skipper Don Whitmire said. “We played pretty well until that final inning; we’re getting there.”

Wayne scored first, but Hartington responded with a couple of runs in the bottom of the first frame.

Heine got aboard in the first frame with a walk before Breiton Whitmire rapped a single past the shortstop, scoring Heine.

Bensen smashed a triple past the center fielder to score Whitmire and Post 4 went to the second with a 2-1 lead.

Wayne tied the game in the fourth, but Hartington answered again with a run in the sixth. “We keep improving step by step,” coach Whitmire said. “We will get where we all want to be. We need to keep working at it.”

The Post 4 Juniors are set to take on Pender June 10 on the road with the first pitch set for 5:30 p.m. in Ralph Bishop League action.

Hartington will host Wisner-Pilger on June 12 and travel to Wakefield on June 13.

Hartington Juniors defeat South Sioux City 22-3 HAR 316 1(11)X X - 22 11 0 SSC 300 00X X - 3 5 8 WP: Gavin Klug LP: J. Jensen. 2B: Hunter Bensen, Koby Detlefsen (H). 3B: Micah Cattau 2 (H). Player ab r h rbi bb Breiton Whitmire 2 2 1 1 1 Grady Haberer 1 1 1 1 1 Brady Hochstein 2 2 1 2 2 Hudson Whitmire 1 1 0 1 0 Hunter Bensen 4 2 1 4 1 Koby Detlefsen 3 0 2 1 0 Keyton Arens 2 2 1 1 0 Micah Cattau 3 2 2 1 0 Sam Wiebelhaus 2 1 1 1 0 Bodie Hochstein 3 2 0 0 1 Easton Hochstein 1 2 0 0 2 Tate Fischer 2 1 0 0 0 Nolan Heimes 1 2 1 1 0 Maverick Heine 4 2 0 0 1 TOTALS 31 22 11 14 9 WAY 100 100 4 - 6 10 2 HAR 200 001 0 - 3 2 2 WP: Alex Rodriguez LP: Breiton Whitmire. 3B: Hunter Bensen (H). Player ab r h rbi bb Maverick Heine 3 1 0 0 1 Brady Hochstein 3 0 0 0 0 Breiton Whitmire 3 1 1 1 0 Koby Detlefsen 3 0 0 0 0 Hunter Bensen 3 0 1 1 0 Sam Wiebelhaus 3 0 0 0 0 Easton Hochstein 3 0 0 0 0 Gavin Klug 1 0 0 0 1 Bodie Hochstein 2 0 1 0 0 TOTAL 24 3 3 2 2