Holdrege, Neb. – The Holdrege Inspire Rehab Seniors had lofty goals coming into the 2024 Legion Baseball season, and they were immediately able to show why. Holdrege began their season by defeating the Gothenburg Melons 9-0 in four and a half innings.
Inspire Rehab was led by their starting pitcher, Lyndon Rodewald. He allowed two hits and walked one in five innings of work. Gothenburg had trouble finding any openings in the Holdrege defense. Sure-handed plays by the infield made it tough for the Melons to get any momentum going.
Trey Weaver was spot on at first base stretching for throws, reacting to tough grounders, and making good decisions. The middle-infield was taken care of by Beau Jensen and Nick Weides, and Kegan Steinke showed off his arm on a couple of occasions, most notably in the top of the third. Gothenburg’s Carson Farr hit a slow-rolling groundball towards third base. Steinke charged in, scooped up the ball, and fired a rocket to Weaver at first. The throw came in about a half-step ahead of Farr for the second out of the inning.
While Rodewald and the defense behind him kept the Gothenburg bats at bay, Holdrege was able to take advantage of timely hitting once they settled in at the plate. Zac Sundquist and Clay Bohr each hit two RBIs. Sundquist also scored two runs of his own to pace Inspire Rehab offensively. Holdrege scored their nine runs off of five hits while drawing seven walks.
Gothenburg started off well enough with Ethan Olson on the mound. He came out with tremendous control in the first inning forcing Holdrege into two straight pop outs and a line out. Olson couldn’t keep up, however, and was relieved in the third by Preston Nichols. His relief appearance was just what the Melons would need. Nichols struck out four batters in just over an inning of work.
The Melons suffered their first loss of the young season falling to 1-1. They’ll be heading back home on Friday, May 24, to face Ogallala at 8 pm.
Holdrege is now 1-0 and will travel to Lexington on Tuesday, May 28. First pitch is set for 6:30 pm and coverage will begin at 6:20 on KUVR and KAMI.
