Beatrice beats Ralston in extra innings to advance to Class B semifinals

** This story was updated to show Beatrice's next opponent and the adjusted game time.

PAPILLION, NE — Beatrice used strong pitching, defense and base running to defeat Ralston 3-2 in extra innings on Monday afternoon.

The victory puts the Orangemen (16-6) in the Class B semifinals for the first time in school history. Beatrice will play #3 Omaha Skutt Tuesday at Werner Park. The game will start 30 minutes after the conclusion of the prior game, likely between 6:00-7:00. The Rams (21-8) drop to face #6 Central City/Fullerton/Centura in an elimination game.

Beatrice grabbed the lead in the first inning. Will Reimer drew a walk from starter Garrett White and advanced to third base on a pair of wild pitches. He came home on an RBI single from Adam DeBoer to open the scoring.

White settled in after the first. The southpaw allowed just five more hits and struck out six over the next 6.1 innings.

Starter Zane Hoffman was solid for Beatrice. Despite pitching just eight innings in the regular season, the senior lasted 4.1 innings and gave up just one unearned run on three hits.

The Orangemen stumbled in the bottom of the third. With two outs, Hoffman walked Jake Chronic and gave up a double to Nolan Sailors. Chronic came home to even the score after a throw from the outfield got past the third baseman.

Beatrice finally got traction against White in the eighth inning. Max Reis singled to start the frame. He was caught between bases after a missed bunt attempt, but the Ralston catcher made a poor throw to first and Reis moved up to second. DeBoer advanced him to third on a grounder. Then, Reis came home on a throwing error by the third baseman to give Beatrice the lead. Ralston brought in Justin Remar in relief to face Tucker Timmerman. After pinch runner Dylan Roeder stole second, Timmerman singled him home to make it 3-2.

Pitcher Will Reimer, who came on to relieve Hoffman, allowed a single to start the bottom of the eighth. Following a strikeout, Remar collected a base hit to put runners on the corners. Catcher Connor Hamilton threw out Remar trying to steal for the second out and Reimer induced a groundout to end the game.

You can listen to all Beatrice baseball state tournament games on KWBE.