On Friday, Kearney faced Grand Island in a battle between two of the state's top teams. The Kearney Bearcats' rough 7-0 defeat to the Grand Island Islanders might stick with them for a while. The matchup marked that first time this year in which Kearney was not able to get on the board.
Kearney saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Karter Lee, who went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases.
Even though they lost, Kearney didn't let batters stay on the plate for long and finished the game with 11 strikeouts. That's the most strikeouts they've managed all season.
On Grand Island's side, Cohen Nelson tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run while striking out 11 over five innings pitched. Nelson has been consistent recently: he hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in three consecutive pitching appearances. Cedric Sullivan picked up the save, tossing two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit (he also didn't allow any walks).
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Broxton Barrientos, who scored two runs while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances.
Kearney dropped their record down to 3-3 with that loss, which was their third straight at home. As for Grand Island, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a nice bump to their 4-2 record this season.
Kearney will head out on the road to face off against Millard West at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. Millard West will roll in looking for their fifth straight win, something Kearney surely won't give up without a fight. As for Grand Island, they will be staying on the road on Saturday to face off against Elkhorn South at 12:00 p.m. Grand Island's pitching crew has only allowed 3.8 runs per game this season, so Elkhorn South's hitters will have their work cut out for them.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
