Five Points shows potential in Slugfest

Five Points showed its potential on the first day of the Platte River Slugfest.

It also showed that it hasn't solved its struggles while playing back-to-back games.

Five Points pounded out 13 hits while beating the Columbus Blues 12-2 in five innings.

But it committed seven errors which led to nine unearned runs in a 12-4, six-inning loss to Omaha Northwest.

"Coming out and playing like we did against Columbus was good to see," Five Points coach Lance Nelson said. "The kids had to see that we have that potential."

Both teams got off to sloppy starts. Five Points led 4-2 after two innings with no earned runs having been scored.

But Five Points' bats got going. William O'Malley and Cale Bundy had back-to-back two-out RBI singles in the bottom of the third.

Five Points put the game away with six runs in the fourth. It had eight of its 10 batters in the inning collect hits, including seven singles.

Five Points' top three batters in the lineup -- O'Malley, Bundy and Jordan Carlson -- came up to the plate in each of the four innings.

O'Malley finished 3-for-3 with two runs. Josh Wheeler went 2-for-3 with three runs and Dylan Hostetler was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

"We had several two-strike hits," Nelson said. "We had great approaches at the plate. This is just an example of what we're capable of."

David Hoeser picked up the complete-game win. He gave up on earned runs on five hits, striking out five and walking two.

Things didn't go so smoothly for Five Points (11-16) against Omaha Northwest.

"The weird thing this year is we've really struggled to play two games in one day," Nelson said. "It happened to us last week at Central City. We played Columbus -- a great team -- that way and then we struggled against Northwest."

The Huskies ended the game with seven unanswered runs, only one of which was earned.

"We lead the state in unearned runs," Nelson said. "Some of that is a lack of focus and (not) squeezing the ball and making the routine play. If we start making those plays, we'll be a tough team to beat."

Omaha Northwest starting pitcher Sam Christianson gave up one earned run on four hits. He struck out 10 and walked five while retiring eight of the final 10 batters he faced.

Josh Wheeler took the loss for Five Points. He gave up 12 runs (three earned) on 10 hits over 5 2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked one.

"I'm really happy with our two pitching performances," Nelson said. "We've needed a lot of innings from our starters, and we got that. Hoeser is one of our top three guys. He's throwing strikes.

"Over the last two weeks, Josh Wheeler has been one of those (top three) guys. If we had given him some support defensively, then we could have been 2-0 on the day."

Five Points completes pool play Saturday at 3 p.m. against Lincoln Southeast.

"We better be ready to play, because Southeast is one of the best teams in the tournament," Nelson said.



Columbus      020    00--2    5    5

Five Points    312    6x--12    13    2

WP--Hoeser. LP--Jackson. 2B-C, Channer, Van Dyke. FP, Hostetler. 3B--FP,  Boerson.



Five Points (11-16)    211    000-4    4    7

Omaha Northwest     320    214-12    10    3

WP--Christianson. LP--Wheeler. 2B--FP, Carlson. ONW, Rodebaugh. 3B--ONW, Dinswell.