Zephyrs suffer fourth straight setback

By: Jeremy Woznick, Sports Reporter

Published: Monday, June 15, 2009 11:48 PM CDT

OMAHA — Another late-inning rally sent the WESTCO Zephyrs senior legion baseball team to its fourth straight loss on Monday at Bellevue East in Omaha.

Just two days after falling to Wheatland on a walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Zephyrs saw Bellevue East ignite for eight runs in the fifth and sixth innings to pull away for a 9-1 win.

“Bellevue East has a very solid team,” Zephyrs coach Mark Moran said. “We made too many mistakes and they made us pay for them.”

The Zephyrs held a 1-0 lead until the fourth inning when Bellevue East pushed across a run to knot the game at 1-1. Bellevue East then erupted for four runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth.

Nate Goodwin’s single drove in Jackson Pahlke with the Zephyrs’ run in the first. Goodwin finished the game going 2-for-3. Chase Wickard also had a good night at the plate by going 2-for-3. Michael Hoppes and Joe Huck collected WESTCO’s other two hits.

“It was good to see them hitting the ball well,” Moran said of Goodwin and Wickard. “We just need to do a better job of hitting throughout the lineup offensively.”

Defensively, the Zephyrs committed five errors.

Trevor Papczun took the loss on the mound. He allowed five earned runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings of work. Papczun struck out four and walked five.

The Zephyrs left seven runners on base in the contest.

The same two teams will meet again today. Moran said Hoppes is scheduled to get the start on the mound.

Zephyrs (5-13) 100 000 — 1 6 5

Bellevue East 000 144 — 9 7 1

WP — Buckley; LP — Trevor Papczun (2-1).

2B — Chase Wickard, Spaulding.