AHS earns 2nd at home

Baseball team is 1-1

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The Arlington baseball team claimed second at the Washington County Fairgrounds on Saturday.
Coach Tyler Stender's Eagles went 1-1 in its season-opening tournament, splitting those two games against teams from Omaha.
On Saturday, Omaha Concordia bested AHS 5-3 to move to 3-0 this spring. The Mustangs held off the Eagles despite an 8-6 hits disadvantage.
Trailing 4-0 during the bottom of the fourth inning, Logan Kaup and Kaden Pittman combined for three RBIs to pull Arlington within 4-3.
Concordia added its fifth run during the top of the fifth frame, however, and won by two.
Jack Bang hit 2-for-2 for the Eagles in defeat, while Pittman went 2-for-4. Kaup, Trevor Denker, Isaac Foust and Blaine Vogt each notched a hit apiece.
Nick Smith suffered the Arlington pitching loss, surrendering a single earned run over five innings of work. He struck out one Concordia batter and allowed five hits.
A day earlier, Friday, the Eagles started the four-team tournament — and their season — with a 4-3 victory against Omaha North.
Junior Dalton Newcomer plated the go-ahead, game-winning run during the fifth inning with a grounder through the Vikings' infield.
“I didn't think it was going to get through, but it did,” the infielder said.
Newcomer originally stepped into the batter's box with his team trailing 3-2, but Denker scored on a passed ball to even the score before the hitter could knock his teammate in. So, the batter's situation changed, but he didn't let it affect him.
“I'm going to be honest,” Newcomer said. “I wasn't really paying attention to the score.”
Instead, the junior was focused on the task at hand.
“I was just trying to do my job,” he said.
Now ahead by a run, Arlington's pitcher, Bang, finished off the win after relieving opening day starter Tyler Ott. The right-hander ended both the sixth and seventh innings by strikeout.
North hit the ball hard to left fielder Darren Olson during the final frame, but the sophomore made enough plays to get the Eagles off of the field as winners.
“That's my boy Darren out there,” Bang said. “I have full trust in him.”
The winning start was encouraging to coach Tyler Stender's team, but the Eagles know continued improvement will be key.
“I think we're still growing,” Newcomer said. “We're making mistakes, but that's alright because we're going to learn from them.”
AHS' season was scheduled to continue Monday against Wayne before Thursday's 4:30 p.m. game at Bennington.

Arlington baseball