North Platte 80s fall to Tucson Saguaros 13-10 in inaugural home opener

“We got a lot of positives out of this game,” North Platte coach Todd Everleth said. “You’re looking at Tucson, the No. 1 team probably in our division. They came stacked with a lot of players. They’re a good club, and they came to play. We came to play.”

Christian Foote led North Platte with three hits. Tjay Mullins, Ryan Lutinski and Garrett Flaagan each had two hits, and Lutinski led the team with three RBI.

Kerry Wright got the start for North Platte, and he struggled in the first inning. Six runs scored due to two hits, three walks and a handful of errors.

After that first inning, though, Wright was dominant. He gave up just one more run and three more hits in a five-inning performance.

“I told Kerry on the mound, ‘You know Kerry, all you got to do is take a deep breath and enjoy the moment. Just enjoy it,’” Everleth said. “And he settled down. The next four innings that he threw, he was top notch.”

Ryan Schroeder tossed two scoreless innings, giving up just one hit and two walks while striking out two.

Trevor Nelson, who started the game at catcher, came in to pitch the eighth. He went 1/3 of an inning and allowed five runs — four earned — off two hits, two walks and a hit batter. Zachary Fogle tossed the final 1 2/3 innings, and he was responsible for just one run in a 3-run home run he let up.

The 80s played from behind right from the start. Errors mixed with a timely hit helped Tucson take a 6-0 lead in the first.

North Platte responded with five runs in the bottom of the frame. Foote scored on a wild pitch, then Mullins drove in another run with a single to center. Lutinski’s RBI double a few batters later made the score 6-3. Tucker Bond drove in two more runs with a double to left to cut the deficit to 6-5.

North Platte then tied the game at 6-6 in the bottom of the second with Coby Tweten’s single to right. The 80s didn’t take their first lead until the fourth inning, when Mullins’ sacrifice fly drove in a run to put North Platte ahead 7-6.

Both teams traded runs in the fifth before North Platte extended its lead to 10-7 off Lutinski’s double to center that drove in two runs.

Tucson found its offense again in the eighth with a six-run frame, including a 3-run home run to left-center field.

North Platte couldn’t regain the lead in the next two innings, losing the opening game 13-10.

The 80s will wrap up their opening series with Tucson at noon Wednesday at Bill Wood Field.

“Man, we had a lot of positives,” Everleth said. “We had our inaugural day. We had our bats swinging and they’re hitting. Pitching was real good. Umpires did a decent job. All around, I think it’s great for the community that we came out and we showed that we can compete with the No. 1 team on the very first day of a team that’s an expansion team with 21 guys.”