Seneca won both of their games on Saturday afternoon to seal the second spot in the state legion baseball tournament. They will join Corning, who already secured a spot at state on Thursday.

Seneca 4, Doniphan County 3

Seneca Post 21 held on in a 4-3 win over Doniphan County Post 55 to advance to the loser’s bracket championship.

Both teams traded sac fly RBIs in the first inning with Brayden Uphaus of Seneca and Austin Grable of Doniphan County being responsible.

Both offenses would have a hard time getting runs against their starting pitchers. Doniphan County starting pitcher Cooper Eberly allowed baserunners from time to time, but he would end up getting 11 strikeouts in the loss. He allowed just three walks, three hits and two earned runs.

As for Seneca starter Evan Olberding, he was incredibly efficient. He had four innings where he would face just three batters. Only once did he have multiple baserunners aboard and that came in the seventh inning where he was pulled.

Olberding went 6.1 innings striking out five, allowing two walks, four hits and two earned runs. He got the win and is our Player of the Game brought to you by McDonald’s of Hiawatha and Seneca.

Seneca would take a 3-1 lead in the top of the fifth after Uphaus had an RBI groundout that brought home Kace Kramer, who stole second and third to be in that position. Wade Leonard also stole second and third and ended up scoring on an infield error.

Doniphan County responded with Logan Blevins scoring a run on an error in the bottom of the fifth.

It looked as if Doniphan County finally had figured Olberding out in the seventh after Eberly reached on a walk and Blevins hit a double into the gap in right field. However, Kramer came in the game and shut down the threat.

Seneca 2, Hiawatha 1

The Hiawatha Post 66 Braves awaited Seneca, but they were able to carry their momentum to win 2-1 in the championship game to advance to the state tournament.

Seneca got the first run of the ballgame with Leonard scoring on an infield error in the bottom of the first.

Hiawatha responded with a run of their own in the top of the fourth. Seneca starting pitcher Treyvan Enneking had retired his first ten batters he faced until Ashton Rockey walked with one out in the inning. After Rockey stole second, Xavier Oldham brought him home on an RBI double to tie the game 1-1.

The solid pitching from both teams continued with Rockey on the hill for the Braves. He was close to matching Enneking’s streak of batters retired as he ended up with nine in a row from the third through the fifth innings.

Rockey wouldn’t give up any runs until the bottom of the seventh inning. Derek Wurtz got on base via another error with one out and it was Kace Kramer that would be the hero bringing in the game-winning run in walk-off style with a double.

Kramer’s heroics earned him the title of Player of the Game brought to you by McDonald’s of Hiawatha and Seneca.

Enneking also had a stellar game going the full game allowing just one run, two walks and five hits with two strikeouts.

Seneca will be playing in the state legion baseball tournament in Concordia next week. More details on the tournament will come out in the upcoming days.