Zephyrs fall to Cheyenne Post 6 late

             The WESTCO Zephyrs competed against one of the top teams in Wyoming, but Cheyenne Post 6 scored seven runs in the final two innings to capture the 11-3 win Tuesday evening at Cleveland Field in the last regular season home game for the Zephyrs.
                WESTCO head coach Dallas Liptac said his team did everything well in the first seven innings to compete against a team like Cheyenne Post 6.
                “We played really well defensively and pitched well,” Liptac said. “It was 1-0 them going into the 6th. We just couldn’t capitalize with runners in scoring position.”
                The thing that pleased Liptac is that this Zephyrs team is slow close to beating teams the caliber of the Cheyennes. It is just the little things that make the difference.
                “We are really close to being able to beat a team like Cheyenne,” Liptac said.
                The Zephyrs will next be in action July 16 when they travel to face Bear Creek in Colorado before hosting the Class A, Area 7 baseball tournament that begins July 19 at Cleveland Field.
                Liptac said the focus going into the last regular season game and the post season and going to be offense.
                “The focus going into area tourney is being better at the little things and being more aggressive at the plate,” he said. “I think we are playing good baseball right now.”
                The Zephyrs are capable of competing with the good teams and Tuesday’s contest showed that.
                WESTCO had a prime scoring opportunity to get on the scoreboard first in the second inning when Ryan Hinman led off with a double followed by Blake Grasmick earning a walk. With two outs, Thatcher Thomalla got a single to load the based, but that was all the Zephyrs could do.
                Cheyenne came back with a run in the third to take a 1-0 lead. And pushed it to 4-0 with two in the sixth and one in the seventh. WESTCO got on the scoreboard in the seventh with two runs.
                Grasmick started the comeback with a single followed by Dawson Barrett earning a walk. Grasmick would later score on a wild pitch. Eric Sabala would later score on a fielder’s choice hit to make it 4-2.
                Cheyenne came right back and plated four runs in the eighth to make it 8-2 and then added another three runs in the ninth for an 11-2 lead. WESTCO tried coming back in the bottom of the ninth when Carter Reisig led off with a single. Two outs later, Samuel Bowlin earned a walk and then Sabala singles home Reisig, but that was all they could do.
                Cheyenne Post 6 outhit WESTCO 14-8. The Zephyrs were led at the plate by Jahrell Mendez with two hits including a double. Thomella also had two hits on the day.

Cheyenne                         001 002 143 – 11 14 1
WESTCO Zephyrs        000 000 201 – 3 8 2