Month of July started off with a pair of NEK League double headers on the night, as Doniphan County hosted Sabetha and Hiawatha hosted Atchison.

In Wathena it was Doniphan County coming out victorious in both contests to earn the sweep over Sabetha. Game one ended early in five innings with Doniphan County registering a 13-5 win, then capping off the night with a 3-0 win in a scheduled five inning contest in game two.

At Noble Park in Hiawatha the home team didn't fare as well as in Wathena as Atchison came to town and earned a sweep over their fellow NEK League team. Atchison used a big nine-run fifth in game one to take the lead away from Hiawatha and grab the 12-4 win and then notch an 8-2 win in game two in a scheduled five inning game.

NEK League action tonight has Doniphan County heading on the road for a non-league showdown with Falls City tonight at 8:00pm (junior legion before at 6:00pm) and Holton travels to Hoyt to take on Royal Valley in a league double header at 6:00 and 8:00pm, rescheduled from earlier this season.

Updated NEK League Legion Standings -- click here

Doniphan County Moves into Second Place in the League after Sweep of Sabetha

Two of the top teams in the NEK League rankings meet up in Wathena for a double header with the young Doniphan County squad getting the best of Sabetha for the double header sweep, 13-5 and 3-0 wins.

In game one, Doniphan County starter Caleb Winkel gave up four early runs to Sabetha in the first but settled in after that and pitched a complete game to earn the win, as he was backed up by his team’s offense. Both Phoenix Keller and Colton Munger registered three hits in the 13-5 win for Doniphan County with Keller going 3-4 with three runs scored and three RBI, while Munger went 3-3 with three runs scored and five RBI.

Sabetha got multi-hit games from McKenzie McAfee and Nolan Keim who both tallied two hits, but it wasn't enough in game one.

Game two the pitching of Dylan Gabriel was the story as he pitched a complete game shutout propelling Doniphan County to the 3-0 win, while striking out 13 on the mound. Keller again came up big at the plate for Doniphan County with a two-run double in the third that pushed Doniphan County to the win.

Graham Howard took the tough loss for Sabetha pitching a solid complete game, but Sabetha's offense struggled in the contest.

With the double header sweep Doniphan County improves to 10-9 on the season and 5-1 in league play moving them into second place in the league standings. Sabetha fell to 19-9 on the season with the two losses are now 6-4 in league play.

Atchison Goes on the Road and Earns Sweep Over Hiawatha

Using a pair of six plus runs innings Atchison traveled up to Noble Park in Hiawatha and took home 12-4 and 8-2 wins in a double header.

Game one it was even early with both teams plating a pair of runs in the first frame then Hiawatha took the 4-2 lead after a two-run bottom of the second. Game remained at 4-2 until the top of the fifth when Atchison busted out for a nine-run inning and took firm control of the contest and went on to grab the 12-4 win, while out-hitting Hiawatha 11-5 in the game.

Atchison's 11-hit attack was led by Johnny Kane who registered a 3-3 night with two runs scored, an RBI and walk. Geoffery Vaughn and Dustin Gosa both tallied two hits in the game with Vaughn adding three RBI, runs scored to his night and Gosa added an RBI, run scored and walk. While, Cody Calhoon shutdown the Hiawatha offense after giving up some early runs he finished the game for the win going six innings giving up five hits, four runs, three walks and six strikeouts.

For Hiawatha, Shawn Green registered the lone multi-hit game in the loss going 2-3 with a run scored.

Atchison started game two with a bang posting six runs in the first to take the early lead and earn the 8-2 win. Two walks, two hit batters, an error and two singles lead to the six-run inning for Atchison giving them the lead.

Dustin Gosa lead the way for Atchison with a 1-2 night with two RBI and earned the pitching win going all five innings giving up three hits, two runs while striking out five. Ricky Kearney and Ben Ervin each scored a pair of runs with Kearny scoring his on two walks and Ervin registering a double and an RBI, also.

Hiawatha's lone three hits of game two came at the hands of Taylor Jacobsen, Dakota Bayles and Dalton Lehmukhl.

With the sweep Atchison improved to 8-9 on the season and 5-6 in league play, while Hiawatha fell to 4-14 on the year and 3-8 in league action.