Titans juniors finish 1-2 in weekend tournament action

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The Tri-County Titan juniors hit the road for the Northeast Nebraska Slugfest tournament in Pender and Wisner, June 1 and 2. In the first game on Saturday, the junior Titans played Valparaiso and lost a well-played pitcher’s duel by a score of 1-5.

Ryan Rifer was the starting pitcher, allowing six hits and three walks, while striking out seven batters.

“Rifer was able to pitch the entire game holding Valpo scoreless, except for the fifth inning when they scored five runs,” said coach Jeff Shabram.

Tri-County had a 1-0 lead going into that fifth inning after a triple by Rifer and a sacrifice RBI by Max Bruce to score the lone Titan run.

“The defense played well behind Rifer holding Valparaiso scoreless for much of the game,” Shabram said.

Tri-County game stats:

Isaac Hoferer: 0-3 batting.

A.J. Hobbs: 0-3 batting.

Rifer: 1-3 batting, 1 run, 1 triple.

Bruce: 0-3 batting, 1 sacrifice, 1 RBI.

Levi Hoferer: 0-2 batting, 1 BB.

Landon Nelson: 0-3 batting.

Jason Shaver: 1-2 batting, 1 HBP.

Jacob Pierzina: 1-2 batting.

Rogan Robertson: 0-2 batting.

Titans versus Pender

In the second game of the day, the juniors fell to host Pender by a score of 3-16. Hobbs took to the mound throwing three-plus innings, allowing 11 runs on six hits while striking out four batters before the young Titans turned to Jacob Pierzina, due to Hobbs’ pitch count.

Pierzina allowed five runs on three hits and struck out three.

“The powerful Pender bats really took off in the fourth inning, scoring 10 runs to put the game out of reach and ending it early due to the 10-run rule.

Tri-County game stats:

Hoferer: 0-0 batting, 2 BB, 1 run.

Jorden Cox: 0-1 batting.

Bruce: 1-2 batting, 1 RBI.

Rifer: 1-2 batting.

Hobbs: 1-2 batting, 1 2B, 1 RBI.

Isaac Hoferer: 0-2 batting.

Shaver: 0-1 batting, 1 BB, 1 stolen base.

Nelson: 0-0 batting, 1 BB.

Kasen Kazemba: 1 run.

Parker Frank: 0-1 batting.

Robertson: 1-2 batting, 1 run, 1 RBI, 1 stolen base.

Pierzina: 0-1 batting, 1 BB.

Titans versus Wisner

In the third game of the tournament, the action was moved to Wisner on Sunday where the junior Titans played Wisner-Pilger-Howells-Dodge. Tri-County started fast and finished strong for a convincing 12-7 win over WPHD.

Isaac Hoferer started on the mound and threw three solid innings, allowing one run on two hits with two walks. He struck out three batters before being removed due to pitch count rules.

Bruce came in to throw 1 2/3 innings, allowing five runs on three hits with four walks, while striking out one batter. Levi Hoferer came in for the last out of the game to close out the win.

Shabram said the pitchers were helped by some outstanding plays in the field highlighted by an unassisted double play by Bruce at third base, along with a couple of highlight reel plays by Ryan Rifer in center field and second base.

"But where the young Titans looked their best was at the plate," Shabram said. "The bats were alive Sunday afternoon. Combine that with aggressive base running and that leads to fun offensive baseball."

Two runs were scored in the first inning by Levi Hoferer and Bruce. Those two RBIs were credited to Hobbs. Nelson scored in the second inning thanks to Isaac Pavlik’s RBI. Bruce scored in the third inning on Rifer’s RBI sacrifice.

Shaver and Nelson scored in the fourth inning with RBIs going to Levi Hoferer and Bruce.

Then Tri-County exploded for six runs in the fifth inning. Levi Hoferer, Rifer, Isaac Hoferer, Frank, Kazemba and Cox scored those runs with RBIs going to Rifer (2), Hobbs (1), Nelson (2), Pavlik (1).

Tri-County game stats:

Levi Hoferer: 0-1 batting, 2 runs, 1 RBI, 3 BB, 2 stolen bases.

Bruce: 2-3 batting, 2 runs, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 3 stolen bases.

Rifer: 1-4 batting, 1 run, 3 RBIs, 1 2B.

Hobbs: 1-3 batting, 3 RBIs, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 stolen base.

Isaac Hoferer: 1-4 batting, 1 run, 1 stolen base.

Shaver: 0-0 batting, 1 run, 1 BB, 2 HBP, 1 stolen base.

Frank: 1 run, 1 stolen base.

Nelson: 1-1 batting, 2 runs, 2 RBI, 1 2B, 2 BB, 3 stolen bases.

Kazemba: 1 run, 1 stolen base.

Robertson: 1-3 batting, 1 stolen base.

Pavlik: 0-1 batting, 2 RBIs, 2 BB.

Cox: 1 run, 1 stolen base.

Pierzina was defensive specialist at first base, with Pavlik as designated hitter in his spot in the lineup.