ALWS Game 4: Nebraska defeats defending champs from Idaho to close out opening day
Idaho Falls (Idaho) Post 56 entered the 2022 American Legion World Series with the goal of pursuing an unprecedented third straight title.
Omaha (Neb.) Post 1 made that more challenging with an impressive 7-3 victory over the two-time defending ALWS champions in the final game of Thursday's opening day at Veterans Field at Keeter Stadium in Shelby, N.C.
Omaha scored twice in the top of the first inning.
Then, even after Idaho Falls responded to take the lead with a three-run bottom of the first, Omaha tied the score with a one-run third, took the lead with a one-run fourth and then created more breathing room with a three-run sixth.
Coby Hatcher (double), Jack Thiele (RBI single), Paul Peterson (RBI single), Grant Sommers (RBI single), Grant Hatcher (RBI single) and John Stessman (1 hit, 2 RBIs) led Omaha's 7-hit offense.
Omaha struck early against Idaho Falls starter Merit Jones, the winning pitcher in last year's ALWS championship game, with two runs in the first inning on two-out RBI singles by Sommers and Grant Hatcher.
After Post 56 took a 3-2 lead, Stessman's RBI groundout off Idaho Falls reliever Jaxon Grimmett tied the score at 3 in third and Thiele's RBI single in the fourth gave Omaha the lead for good.
Post 1 then created space when it chased Grimmett in a three-run sixth inning on Peterson's RBI single, a wild pitch and Stessman's two-out RBI single.
The effort made a winner of Omaha starter Ryan Bauer, who yielded three hits in six innings with seven strikeouts. Reliever Peterson retired three of the five batters he faced in the seventh to close out the win.
For Post 56, Ryan Horvath's two-out RBI single in the first inning led its 4-hit offense.
In winning its last two titles, Idaho Falls had won its ALWS opener.
Now the Post 56 Bandits will need to rebound in its final two games of pool play - at 1 p.m. on Saturday against Chesapeake, Va., and at 7 p.m. on Sunday against Midland, Mich., if it hopes to advance to Monday's semifinals.
