Nolan Burrell went the distance for Imperial Monday against Pierce, as first baseman Dominic Sis stands ready on defense. (Johnson Publications photo by Taryn Burrell)
Left fielder Mason Nordhausen makes this diving catch in the fifth inning against Syracuse, which stopped a scoring drive and left two Syracuse base runners stranded. (Johnson Publications photo by Taryn Burrell)
Taking a timeout to regroup, the juniors listen to Coach Bruce Peterson during a break in the Syracuse game Sunday. (Johnson Publications photo by Taryn Burrell)
Juniors find competition stiff at state Legion tourney
Hoping to improve on last year’s Class C state Legion baseball tournament showing, Imperial’s juniors came home a bit disappointed from this year’s experience.
Imperial was eliminated from the tourney after losing its first two games to Syracuse and Pierce.
The tournament, moved back a day due to rain, continues this week at Tri County near DeWitt.
Coach Bruce Peterson said the juniors didn’t play poorly in the eight-team tournament, but, “We just couldn’t get our game going.
“Our hits went right at them. We just couldn’t catch a break,” in either game, he said.
Peterson credited the pitching staff on the Syracuse and Pierce teams, who he said put pressure on their hitters.
“There were eight pretty good teams down there and we ran into two of them,” he said.
“It was a good experience to be down there,” he said, in a beautiful facility.
“It was a good experience to play there,” he added.
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