Rebels drop pitchers’ duel

The Newton Rebels let a stellar pitching performance go to waist Tuesday in the third round of the National Baseball Congress Midwest Regionals in Valley Center.

Kyle Cremers went eight innings, allowing one earned run on three hits with three walks and six strikeouts in a 2-1 loss to the Junction City Generals.

Junction City pitcher Lance Hoge, who will be a senior at Kansas State, allowed one run on five hits in seven innings with two walks and two strikeouts, for the win. Brendan Higgins pitched the ninth for the save.

“Their pitcher was solid all night. We just couldn’t get anything going,” Newton co-manager Chris Pate said. “We didn’t have many bad at bats. We didn’t strike out a lot.”

No player in the game posted more than one hit.

The Generals, 24-9, struck first, scoring a two-out run via a Rebels error. Newton tied the game on an Andrew Perez sacrifice fly in the top of the second.

The game was suspended in the middle of the fourth inning because of lightning. While the players and ground crew tried to get the tarp on the field, the center field fence blew down. Play resumed after an 81-minute delay. The fence was repaired.

The Generals regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth. With one out and bases loaded, Brian McBryde hit an infield single to score a run.

In the top of the ninth, Andrew Revall walked, went to second on a bunt and went to third on a ground out. An infield fly left ended the game.

“That run they scored in the bottom of the first was unearned,” Pate said. “The run in the fifth wasn’t an error. It was just a ground ball that found a hole. Kyle pitched good enough for the win and could have had a shutout. We just didn’t come up with the key hit when we needed it. (Trever) Adams hit two lasers — one to the shortstop, one to center field — that would have definitely affected the outcome. That’s a good team, a team we could beat.”

Newton, 23-12, plays at 1 p.m. today against the Wichita Wheatkings in an elimination round game. The Wheatkings downed the Salina Blue Jays 7-3 earlier in the day. Newton has won three of four games against the Wheatkings this season.

“We have to battle through the loser’s bracket,” Pate said. “It will take four wins to win the thing. We have the pitching depth to do it. (Tony) Pryor will be on the mound. We only used three pitchers — (Brent) Ebinger, (Brett) Whittle and Cremers. We have everybody except Ebinger and Cremers available tomorrow. We’ll have Ebinger Friday.”

Newton ab r h bi

Mendoza 2b 4 0 0 0

Elliott lf 4 0 0 0

Underhill cf 4 0 1 0

Revall rf 2 0 1 0

Adams 3b 2 1 0 0

Sowers 1b 4 0 1 0

Mahler c 4 0 1 0

Perez ss 2 0 1 1

Rehnstrom dh 3 0 0 0

TOTALS 29 1 5 1

Jct.City ab r h bi

McCoy cf 3 0 0 0

McBryde ss 3 0 1 1

Martini lf 3 1 0 0

Lenherr rf 4 0 1 0

Hoover dh 3 0 0 0

Ruch 1b 3 0 0 0

Recter 3b 3 1 1 0

Stewart c 2 0 0 0

Hanish 2b 2 0 0 0

TOTALS 26 2 3 1

Newton 010 000 000 —1

Jct.City 100 010 00x —2

E — Adams. DP — Junction City. LOB — New. 6, JC 5. 2B — Revall. Sac. Bunt — Stewart, Adams. Sac. Fly — Perez.

Newton

ip h r er bb k

Cremers, L 6 3 2 1 3 6

Junction City

ip h r er bb k

Hoge, W 7 5 1 1 2 2

Neuberger 1 0 0 0 0 1

Higgins, S 1 0 0 0 1 0

WP — Hoge. Time — 1:52.