By: Mike Glesinger
A season of baseball can be a long grind. Unlike other sports, baseball is played almost everyday...in a lot of cases, twice a day. The 2021 season for the Alliance First National Bank-Omaha Spartans, began May 15, and over the next 80 days the Spartan Junior and Senior teams played 104 games. Facing teams from throughout Nebraska, Colorado, South Dakota and Wyoming, finishing with a combined record of 75-28-1...not to shabby!
The Spartan Juniors went 32-15-1, often times playing against Senior teams, and ended just short of a trip to State, finishing as the Area 7 runner up. Most of the team was made up of first year players at the Jr. level. All gained valuable experience and multiple team members played for both the Junior and Senior teams.
Junior team members...Christian Soriano, Espen Lanik, Eli Blanco, Tony Escamilla, Jonah Amill, Ivan Burri, Tyzen Brown, Kysen Walker, Kaden Ferguson, Seth Morrison, Landen Crowe, Owen Grant, Nick Wright, Nico Olvera, Josh Aguallo, Cody Galles, Phoenix Stitch and Ethan Littlehoop. Coaches, Adrian Gonzalez, JJ Garza, Jerry Garza and Carlos Palomo.
The Spartan Seniors capped an outstanding season by making a run through the Area 7 and Class B State Tournaments and finishing as the State Runner adding to their runner up finish in 2019.
The Alliance Seniors finished the regular season winning 8 of 10 and headed into the Area 7 tourament as the #2 seed and having the home field. The Spartans played 4 very competitive games winning 10-2 over Sidney, 4-0 over Ogallala and 4-2 over top seed Gering to move into the championship game. The Spartans completed the Area tournament with a 14-2 win over Ogallala to advance to the Class B State Tournament in Crete.
Alliance opened the State Tournament vs Area 3 Champion, Arlington. Arlington scored first and held a 2-0 lead heading into the 6th inning. Starting Pitcher, Chance Crowe kept the Spartans in the game holding Arlington to just 2 runs before Alliance took the lead scoring 3 runs in the top of the 6th on a base hit, an error, a hit batter and 4 walks to take the lead 3-2. Crowe set Arlington down in the bottom of the 6th with 2 strike outs and a nice play by catcher AJ Escamilla, throwing out a runner on a steal. Then in the 7th, Jacob Callen, took over on the mound and struck out a batter. With the tying run at second base and 2 outs, the next Arlington batter hit a drive to deep left field. Spartan Caeson Clarke went back to the warning track and made a diving, game winning catch to seal the 3-2 win. Alliance was 1-0 at State.
Game 2 was against Area 4 Champion Central City. Jacob Callen continued his strong pitching, starting the game and going into the 7th giving up just 2 runs and striking out 6. Alliance lead the entire game scoring 2 runs in the 2nd, 3 in the 5th and tacking on 3 more in the 7th. The big blow was Caeson Clarke's 2 run, home run. Mario Garza, Vic Hinojosa, Kellen Muhr, Brantz Halouska, Chase King and Eli Blanco each had hits in the 8-2 win. The Spartans were 2-0 and still in the winners bracket.
In Game 3, Alliance matched up against Area 1 champion Hickman, with the winning team holding the advantage to move into the championship. Hickman took an early lead with 3 in the 2nd and then added single runs in the 3rd, 4th and 5th to take a 6-0 lead. Alliance rallied, scoring 3 in the 6th to make it 6-3. Caeson Clarke had the Spartans only hits. Hickman closed out the 6-3 win retiring the Spartans in the 7th. Alliance was 2-1 and needed to win the next day to move into the Championship.
The Spartans took on the host team Crete on day 4. Vic Hinojosa got the start and was solid on the mound. Alliance took the lead scoring 2 in the 4th, then added 3 in the 5th and tacked on 2 insurance runs in the 6th. Brantz Halouska, Caeson Clarke, Mario Garza and Chase King had multiple hits and Kellen Muhr closed the 7-1 win. Chase Boyer made several nice plays in centerfield as part of an excellent defensive effort. The win moved the Spartans into the championship game against Hickman the next day.
In the title game, Hickman got off to a quick start scoring 3 runs in the first and 2 in the second to take an early 5-0 lead. Alliance got a run in the 3rd to make it 5-1, before Hickman pulled away scoring 9 runs in the 4th to take a 14-1 lead and that would be the final score as Hickman finished the game in the 5th, with a 5-4-3 double play to end the game and take the Championship. Alliance finished the season at 43-13, and brought home a 2nd straight, runner up trophy. The Senior team will bring back a lot of experience next season.
Team members are....Espen Lanik, Eli Blanco, Drew Romick, Kellen Muhr, AJ Escamilla, Chase Boyer, Chase King, Tyzen Brown, Vic Hinojosa, Kysen Walker, Seth Morrison, Landen Crowe, Caeson Clarke, Brantz Halouska, Nick Wright, Jacob Callen, Chance Crowe and Mario Garza. Coaches Carlos Palomo, Adrian Gonzalez, Jerry Garza and JJ Garza.
